


Love (And Revoluion) in the Fright Zone

by Orkycrafty



Series: Long Live the Queens [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Asphyxiation, Blood and Violence, Canon Divergence, Electrocution, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, In which Scorpia and Catra become Queens, Mental Abuse, Minor Character Death, PTSD, Physical Abuse, Scorptra, Torture, implied past catradora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-03-29 13:19:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 50,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19020739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orkycrafty/pseuds/Orkycrafty
Summary: Follows the events of the Season 2 finale. My own version of future events, with a heavy focus on Scorpia because I love her. First part of a series, formerly titled "Long Live the Queens"





	1. Breathless, Forgetful

**Author's Note:**

> It started when Scorpia found out what he had done to Catra.  
> No one hurts her wildcat.  
> Not even Lord Hordak.

It was almost comically easy to commandeer the prisoner transport convoy. Horde soldiers are trained from birth to not question authority, and besides, no one wants to get on the bad side of the wall of muscle and exoskeleton that is Scorpia. So, when she marched up and told them that Lord Hordak wanted her to take former Force Captain Catra to Beast Island personally, and alone, they were all too happy to let her.

As soon as she was certain the prison skiff was out of view of the Fright Zone defenses, Scorpia veered off into the jagged spires of rock, away from the main corridor used by Horde troops. Most skiff pilots were afraid to take their craft into the narrow, winding passages, but all this used to be her family’s kingdom, and she knows it like the back of her claw. There is a cave she knows, sheltered from aerial patrols by an overhang, with a spring of fresh water. There, she hopes Catra will be safe until she can come up with a better solution.

She easily guides the skiff through the treacherous terrain to her destination. She shuts off the skiff’s engine, causing it to settle to the ground. Moving towards the front of the craft, she braces herself for what she’ll find when she opens the cell door, but she is still unprepared.

Catra is lying in a heap on the cold steel floor where she had obviously just been tossed without concern. Her breathing is short and sharp, but otherwise, she is completely still. Scorpia’s blood boils at the sight. She swears, they will pay for this, if it’s the last thing she does.

As gently as she can, she lifts Catra off the floor in a limp bundle, being careful to support her head and keep it from lolling from side to side. Her fingers and toes are worryingly blue. Scorpia’s face twists into a grimace of concern. What had he done to her?

Scorpia carries her into the cave, holding her close to her chest, silently begging her to take her warmth and just wake up, please. Reluctantly, she sets Catra on the ground and rushes back into the skiff, where she had stashed a bundle of supplies, including a blanket and a portable heater.

Returning to where she left Catra, she sets the heater on the ground and flips the switch, instantly causing a wave of light and warmth to emanate from the device. Tenderly, she wraps Catra in the blanket as snugly as she feels comfortable with and settles on to the ground next to her, one arm draped protectively over the bundled form, staring idly into the dim glow of the heater.

 

Etheria’s largest moon had long since disappeared below the horizon when the sound of Catra shifting wakes Scorpia from the light slumber she had fallen into. Groggily, she looks side to side, blinking slowly, before laying eyes on Catra, murmuring and shifting slightly, eyes squeezed shut. Scorpia shakes herself fully awake and leans over Catra.

“Hey, Wildcat. Wake up.” She runs a claw gently over Catra’s mane of hair.

“Mmmmmh…” Catra groans, eyes squeezing tight for a moment before blinking owlishly open. Her eyes drift along the roof of the cave before focusing on Scorpia. She smiles, but Catra frowns.

“Who… who the hell are you? Where am I? Where’s Adora?” Catra snaps, causing Scorpia’s eyes to widen in shock and her face to fall.

“Wildcat… It’s me, it’s Scorpia,” she replies, her voice filled with tones of hurt and uncertainty.

“I don’t know who the hell you are,” she growls, “where did you bring me? Where’d you take Adora? You better not have hurt her…” She struggles against the blanket, eyes shifting from side to side, taking in her surroundings.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Scorpia says, voice cracking despite her effort to keep it steady, claws raised in a placating motion. “You’re safe now, Wildcat. It’s ok, they can’t hurt you, just calm down!”

“Stop calling me that!” she shrieks, “What are you talking about?!” With a tearing noise, she claws one arm free from the blanket and has quickly shredded it. She pants heavily, trying to push herself to her feet, but her legs give out from under her, leaving her on hands and knees in the dust. “What did you do to me?!?” she screeches, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

Stunned, Scorpia slowly shakes her head, shoulders shaking. “N-no, it wasn’t me, I didn’t, I wouldn’t…”

“Shut up!” Catra screams, “Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!” She lowers her face into the dust, on her elbows now, slamming the ground with a fist as glittering teardrops land in the dust. Scorpia falls silent, her own tears starting to run down her face as quiet sobs shake her body.

Slowly, Catra quiets, then rolls on to her side, too exhausted to keep on the way she had been. Scorpia holds back for a moment, then wipes her eyes. There’s time to figure out what’s going on later. Her Wildcat needs her now. Slowly, so as to not startle Catra, she moved towards her on claws and knees. Catra eyes her as she approaches but doesn’t have the energy to protest. She sits on her knees by Catra’s side, and Catra meets her gaze through the corners of her eyes, still panting heavily.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.” Catra’s eyes widen at the unexpected warm, concerned tone in Scorpia’s voice. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but it’s bad. You need to rest. I… I’ll try to explain the best I can, but promise me you’ll rest, first.”

Catra scoffs, but then falls silent and when she speaks again, her voice is small. “Is Adora ok? Did something happen to her?”

Scorpia fights against the lump in her throat. After everything she’s done for Catra, it’s still always Adora, isn’t it? “Yeah,” she chokes out, “she’s fine. Completely fine.”

Catra examines Scorpia’s face for any trace of a lie, and when she finds none, nods and relaxes slightly. “Ok. I promise, I’ll try and rest. Happy?”

Not really, but Scorpia nods. She moves Catra’s head into her lap, to weak complaints from Catra, and places her claws on either side of her head.

“Again, I don’t really know what happened. And I don’t really know where to start… What is the last thing you remember?”

Catra’s eyes narrow and her brow furrows in thought, then suddenly, they open wide, wider than Scorpia thought possible, and she screams.

“No- he- I- I can’t breathe…” Catra gasps, body convulsing and her hands and feet twitching. Her eyes swivel from side to side in a panic, pupils tiny slits in seas of blue and gold.

“Hey, it’s ok, you’re safe! He can’t hurt you!” Scorpia cries, but her words don’t seem to reach Catra. Uncertain of what to do, she watches helplessly as Catra sobs and gasps for air, choking on her own breath.

“No- I didn’t- I’m not- no- please…” With a massive effort, she curls her body into a tiny ball, shielding her head and shoulders with her arms from some unseen attacker. “No… please… no…”

Unable to sit by and do nothing, Scorpia does the only thing she knows to do. She lifts Catra in both claws and holds her close to her chest, huddling over her in an attempt to shield her from the world.

 

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Catra’s sobs and weak cries for help subside into hiccups and sad, mewling sounds. Scorpia shifts slightly, looking down at Catra, who hesitantly starts to uncurl. She looks up at Scorpia, face unreadable.

“You can let go of me now.” Scorpia jumps slightly at the weak, raspy voice, but then nods hurriedly, and gently lays Catra down on the ground again. Catra looks away from her face, embarrassed.

“If you ever tell anyone what you just saw, I’ll kill you,” she threatens, but even she sounds uncertain.

The pair are silent for a long while, both lost in their thoughts. Finally, Catra speaks up.

“Look… I don’t know what happened, but… I don’t feel like you’re to blame. And I don’t really have anyone else to rely on right now. So, you’re going to tell me how I got here, and who you are.” Scorpia eyes Catra uneasily, but nods.

“Ok… I can do that.”

“I’m Force Captain Scorpia, of the Horde.” Catra’s eyes drift to the badge on Scorpia’s chest, seemingly seeing it for the first time, and nods. “I know you won’t believe or remember me, but we are friends. You… did something that made Lord Hordak angry at you, and he punished you somehow. You were going to be sent to Beast Island, but I stopped them and brought you here, instead.” Catra looks over to the prison skiff, still where Scorpia had parked it.

“Okay… and where’s Adora? Did she get punished, too? Why isn’t she here?” Scorpia takes a deep breath, trying to decide what to say. Finally, she decides, even though it tears at her heart, to hide some things from Catra. She isn’t strong enough to remember, not yet.

“She… she’s somewhere else. She’s safe! But she can’t be here, even though she definitely wants to be.” Catra searches Scorpia’s face then nods, apparently satisfied for now.

“What about you? Won’t they notice you’re missing?” Scorpia lets out a hollow laugh.

“No one notices me anyway. And besides, officially, I’m out on a several-day patrol right now. They won’t be expecting me back for a little while, at least.” Catra nods again, then yawns massively, smacking her lips. Scorpia looks back down to her, a sad smile on her lips.

“You rest now. I’ll keep watch.” Catra blinks, too tired to protest or even nod. Her eyelids flutter closed, and her breathing slows down, almost instantly falling asleep.

Scorpia looks down at her, then goes to gather up the tattered scraps of the blanket and places them under Catra’s head like a makeshift pillow, lifting her head as gently as possible. She moves across the cave and sits, back to the cave wall, one leg stretched out in front of her and the other bent, resting one arm on her bent leg. She watches Catra sleep until her head nods and her eyelids grow heavy, and then all is still and silent.


	2. Dismissed, Rejected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia has some rather surprising thoughts.
> 
> Catra wants the full truth.

Scorpia slowly opens her eyes, blinking the sleep from them. She lets out a massive yawn and wipes her face with the inside of one arm, keeping the spikes away from her. She idly looks around the cave and her gaze lands on Catra, causing her to frown.

Catra is curled in a ball on the ground, ears and tail twitching every so often. She looks so small, so vulnerable. So different from her usual projection of strength and surety. Scorpia’s mind drifts back to how she had acted yesterday, and she once again wonders what could have happened to her.

Catra isn’t one to scream and cower, at all. She takes the things that hurt inside her and sharpens her claws with them. She turns pain into strength, into a will to survive and even thrive. She doesn’t cry and beg. But somehow, Hordak had… broken her. Scorpia shudders, but her mind just turns from Hordak to Shadow Weaver.

Scorpia doesn’t know a whole lot about Shadow Weaver. She had raised both Catra and Adora. She somehow used the Black Garnet, even though she definitely isn’t a princess. Unless Scorpia has a long-lost sister who doesn’t have claws or a tail that she never knew about, which seems far-fetched. Based on what little she had gotten Catra to open up to her about, though, Scorpia could guess that Shadow Weaver had been horrible to Catra as a kid. Even more so than “having an evil sorceress for a foster mother” would imply. But Catra had still been able to take her out, she hadn’t been paralyzed and afraid like she had been yesterday.

Scorpia pauses. Where are all these thoughts coming from? Since when is anything in the Horde “evil” or “horrible”? That’s just how it is, isn’t it? Then why does thinking about it make her stomach churn? Her train of thought is interrupted by a soft noise from Catra.

She looks back towards her huddled form, and her eyes meet a bright blue and yellow pair, wide open and awake. She gives a hesitant smile, but it falls when it is met with only a slight frown.

“You’re still hanging around, huh?” Scorpia nods in response. Catra pushes herself on to one elbow and cracks her neck. “I guess the fact that you didn’t murder me in my sleep or anything is a good sign. You got any food?”

“Yeah, but just marching rations.” Catra makes a face, and Scorpia understands the feeling. Horde marching rations are dry, hard to swallow, and aren’t really filling, but they give the body the bare minimum of what it needs to keep going. Well, mostly. Scorpia had heard of entire battalions getting sick because they had only eaten marching rations for a month. It’s why Horde troops usually eat mostly food taken from the area that they’re marching through or occupying. It’s not even official policy, just simple survival. But again, she feels something rebelling against the thought. What is going on with her today?

She shakes her head to clear it and gets to her feet. She moves over to the supply pack she had brought, with theoretically enough rations to last both her and Catra a week or two. She grabs a meal portion and a waterskin and sits by Catra’s side.

Catra mumbles a thanks and tries to sit up, but her arms shake and give out, dropping her back to the ground. Scorpia places the food and water on the ground beside her with a concerned look.

“Do you want some help?” she asks. Catra examines her face and voice for any sort of mocking, then groans.

“I hate this.” Taking that as a yes, Scorpia gently eases her claw under Catra’s head and the other in front of her stomach and helps her to sit up, legs crossed. When Scorpia tries to pull away, however, Catra’s body starts to waver, looking like it will collapse again. They both frown.

“I’m going to take you over to the wall, so you can lean against it,” Scorpia offers, and Catra nods in agreement. She moves her claw from Catra’s midsection to under her knees, and easily lifts the smaller girl and gets to her feet. Catra’s eyes widen and she wraps her own arms around Scorpia’s neck instinctually.

“How many times do I have to tell you about personal space?” Catra grumbles. Scorpia’s eyes widen and she looks back down at Catra, but she is looking away, apparently not realizing what she had just said. Scorpia shakes her head softly. What was that? Was she just hearing things?

Scorpia dismisses that line of thought as she reaches the cave wall and kneels down again to lean Catra against it. She stands again and goes back to grab the meal pack and waterskin, then hands it to Catra, who takes with a nod of appreciation.

While Catra is busy, Scorpia goes to grab some for herself. She sits down next to Catra, a foot or two away, getting a noncommittal grunt in response. She tears open the pack and pulls a face when she looks at the stuff that the Horde claims is food. Catra looks over at her and smirks.

“What’s wrong, never had these before?” she asks. Scorpia shakes her head and shrugs.

“No, I’ve had them before. I’m mostly posted in the Fright Zone, though, so I don’t get them very often. Just not used to them.” Catra nods and chuckles.

“Lucky. One time, these were all Shadow Weaver let me eat for like an entire year. If Adora hadn’t snuck me part of her meals…” she trails off, an odd look on her face. Scorpia decides to not press it, and they finish their meals in silence.

 

The next few days pass in much the same way. Eat, sleep, repeat. Scorpia tries to talk to Catra as much as she can, but the conversations almost inevitably turn towards Adora, and they end pretty quickly after that. Catra spends the rest of the days pushing herself, much to Scorpia’s concern. But she is dedicated, and without much else to do.

Pretty soon, she is able to stand, sort of, leaning heavily against the cave wall. But it isn’t enough for her. Two days later, Scorpia wakes up to her slowly shuffling along the edge of the cave, bracing against the wall, legs shaking like a leaf in the Whispering Woods, a look of fierce triumph on her face.

 

All too soon, the day that Scorpia has to return to the Fright Zone rolls around. Catra watches her pack, making sure to leave enough food for Catra to eat until she’s able to come back. Scorpia hates leaving her alone, but if she’s gone any longer, it will look suspicious. They’re lucky the Horde is as inefficient as it is, otherwise they probably would have already been found out.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Scorpia tells Catra, who nods but remains silent. Scorpia fills the silence with, “I’ll try to bring some better food with me. I think some shipments from the Plumerian territories will be coming in, would you like me to grab you some fruit? I bet they’ll have those orange ones with the skin you have to peel off-“

“Scorpia.” Catra interrupts. Scorpia shuts her mouth and eyes Catra uneasily.

“Yes?”

“You’re keeping something from me.” Scorpia feels sweat starting to bead on the back of her neck.

“I don’t know what you mea-“

“Don’t play dumb. You aren’t telling me everything about Adora, are you? You always go silent or try to change the subject when I bring her up.” Scorpia swallows nervously. She had been hoping to avoid it. Obviously, she knew that she had to tell her at some point, but so soon? She sighs.

“Ok, yes. I haven’t been completely honest with you. But I haven’t lied! She’s safe, as far as I know.”

“As far as you know? How do you not know? Where is she?!” Catra’s voice has risen to a yell. Scorpia raises her claws in a placating gesture.

“Look, just calm down…”

“Shut up! Just tell me where she is!!” Scorpia screws up her face, but just can’t hold it any more.

“She left! She joined the Rebellion!” She yells, but immediately regrets it. Catra’s face twists into a scowl.

“You’re lying. Adora would never do that to me,” she growls. Scorpia takes a step forward, but is stopped in her tracks by Catra saying, in a low, menacing tone, “Go away.”

“Please just-“

“I said go away! Leave me alone! Shut up!” Catra screams, tears starting to run down her face. Startled, Scorpia stumbles backwards, tripping over the deck of the skiff behind her. She lands heavily on her back, driving the air out of her lungs, causing her to gasp for breath. Catra watches her, still scowling and panting, but quiet now.

The tense silence grows thicker between them, neither willing or able to speak.

Not yet.


	3. The Proof, The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia has something to show Catra.
> 
> Catra changes the plans.

Finally, Scorpia breaks the silence.

“I’m sorry.” Catra startles slightly, but then her scowl returns.

“If you’re so sorry, then leave. Go away.” Scorpia shakes her head and pushes herself on to her elbows.

“Not gonna happen. I promised I’d never leave you like… Like Adora did.”

“Stop saying that.” Catra brings her knees up to her chest and hugs them tightly, fighting to keep her rising uncertainty from showing on her face.

Scorpia groans as she sits up fully. She rubs the back of her neck with one claw, the other resting in her lap. She avoids meeting Catra’s eyes.

“Look, you asked for the truth. I’m sorry, but I can’t change it.”

“I said stop it.”

Scorpia sighs, “I have something you should see. I’m gonna stand up, ok?” Catra stares at her silently, but Scorpia doesn’t hear a no. She heaves herself to her feet and moves to her pack at the rear of the skiff. She grabs something from inside it and goes back to Catra, holding a tracker pad.

“I had Entrapta put some of the video logs on here, just in case.” At Catra’s visible confusion, Scorpia raises a claw. “I’ll explain later. She’s another friend of ou- mine. Here.” She hands the pad over to Catra. “It should be really easy. Just tap the icon that says ‘She-Ra’.” Catra eyes the pad, then Scorpia, before reaching out and taking it. Scorpia heads back to the skiff and sits on the deck as, behind her, she hears Catra tap the screen and the first log begin.

Sounds of screaming come from the pad. Scorpia’s seen this one, the assault of the rebel settlement of Thaymor. When She-Ra first appeared, every Force Captain was required to review the footage, to familiarize themselves with the new foe. Somehow it had also got into the hands of the troops, and by now everyone in the Horde has seen it at least once. Scorpia knows how it goes.

As is protocol, the footage was taken from the forward camera of the commanding officer’s vehicle. Suddenly, out of the smoke and dust runs Adora, wearing just her uniform pants and undershirt. She stops in front of the tank, throwing her arms out. Catra can’t help the small smile that crosses her face. She startles, however, when her own voice comes out of the pad.

Scorpia watches Catra carefully as she continues watching. After the initial shock, a look of growing satisfaction appears across her face. She looks about ready to say something to Scorpia, in fact, when Adora says that she isn’t coming back. Suddenly, Catra’s face shifts into one of shock, fingers gripping the pad hard enough to make veins pop out the back of her hands.

Catra numbly shakes her head as Adora asks Catra to come with her and she sees her other self from behind, drawing a stunner slowly, where Adora can’t see it. Even though she must be expecting it, she winces when the weapon makes contact, sending Adora to the ground.

She shuts her eyes tight, shaking her head to try and reject what is happening on screen. Scorpia hears Catra hit Adora again, and then the sound of her two friends coming in to get Catra off of her. When the Catra on the pad calls out to Adora, the real Catra’s eyes shoot open.

From there, the footage cuts to Adora’s friend, Bow, surrounded by Horde Tanks. Catra watches, disbelievingly, as a bright glow appears from off screen, then reveals itself to be She-Ra, who raises her sword and annihilates the ring of tanks with a single blow. The footage tilts and flickers as the camera is damaged, but it still captures She-Ra throwing an entire war droid across the plaza with one hand. Catra’s eyes open wider, if possible, when She-Ra falls to her knees and transforms back into Adora.

“No…” she whispers, shaking her head, but the footage doesn’t stop there. Multiple security cameras show Adora’s attack on a Horde fortification, along with a flying beast and a tiny woman. More security footage, this time of the Plumerian offensive’s base. Shaky body cam footage, taken from Catra’s own Force Captain badge, shows the encounter at the Sea Gate.

At that point, Scorpia judges that Catra’s probably seen enough. She rises to her feet and walks slowly and quietly towards Catra and takes the pad from her unresisting hands.

“She… she really left me.” Scorpia looks down at Catra, concern all over her face. She had been expecting a reaction sure, but her voice sounds so small. Scorpia sighs and sits next to Catra.

“Yeah. I wanted to wait until you were stronger to tell you, but, well…”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m weak?” Catra snaps, but it lacks any real bite. Scorpia shakes her head.

“You are literally one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.” Catra’s eyes widen and she looks up at Scorpia. “Every day, I wish I could be as strong as you are.”

Catra snorts, “someone looking up to me? That’s new.” Scorpia looks down.

“It’s true! You’re so ambitious and talented and smart…”

“Don’t say that.” Catra breaks eye contact with Scorpia and draws a little closer on herself. “If I was so smart I wouldn’t be hiding in a cave.” She puts one arm over the back of her neck and mumbles, “I still can’t even remember what I did to get banished in the first place.”

“Oh, uh, I think I know. You maybe, sort of… Lost Shadow Weaver?” Catra looks up incredulously at Scorpia.

“Lost her? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, she was in her cell but then she escaped, and then you seemed to think it was your fault, so…”

“Shadow Weaver was in a cell?” Catra’s ears pick up, along with the corners of her mouth. “Good. She deserved it. Too bad she escaped, I guess.” She sighs. Scorpia eyes her curiously.

“You really don’t remember any of this?” she asks. Catra shakes her head.

“Not really. Sometimes I get, like flashes? And other times it feels like something is just out of my reach, like when you can’t remember a word, you know?”

“Oh yeah, I get that all the time. I always feel like the things I want to say are right on the tip of my tongue, but I talk so much anyway that no one ever really notices. Everyone kind of tunes me out, I think. Everyone except Entrapta and, well, you.” Catra blushes, her ears turning downwards.

“Don’t think this changes anything. I still don’t know you.” Scorpia shrugs and turns her gaze towards the mouth of the cave.

“I know. That’s ok. You don’t have to know me. What matters to me is that you’re ok.” Catra doesn’t have an answer for that. She draws closer into herself, hiding her face in her arms and her tail tucked around her legs. Scorpia hesitantly places an arm around her and, when Catra doesn’t protest, pulls her into her side slightly.

 

“So…” Scorpia finally says, breaking the silence. Catra flicks an ear, but otherwise gives no sign that she’s listening. Scorpia takes a deep breath, then continues, “So, what do you want to do now?”

“What do you mean, what do I want to do now?” Catra asks, head still down, making her voice sound muffled.

“Well, I mean, you just re-learned that Adora is a princess now, and Shadow Weaver escaped from the Horde to go who knows where. Plus, it’s not like you can go back to the Horde. I’m sure Adora would love to see you in the Rebellion,” she says, voice growing slightly bitter. Catra raises her head and scowls.

“Are you kidding? What, just walk into Bright Moon and the power of friendship will save me? Fuck that. Besides, they’ve already got Adora, and she’s got them. They don’t need me. And I’m not just going to hide in a cave. I’ll probably just find my own way.” Scorpia looks down at her, eyes full of concern.

“Oh no you’re not! You can barely walk; how do you expect to last long on your own?”

Catra growls, “I’m not some stupid invalid! I’ve always made do.”

“I know you have, wildcat, but even you have to rest sometimes! Something really nasty happened to you, you need time to recover.”

“Well I’m not just going to sit alone in some stupid cave until you come back!” Scorpia is stunned into silence. She had to admit, that had been pretty much her plan. But she couldn’t risk Catra trying to walk off somewhere and getting hurt.

“Well…” Scorpia thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “I could bring you back to the Fright Zone.” Catra scoffs.

“Oh, great plan. Just bring me back to the place where I’ve been banished from! Brilliant!” Scorpia blushes in indignation.

“Well, you said you don’t want to stay here, and I’m not going to let you try and wander anywhere on your own, so, yeah! I can hide you in my room or something. It’ll be like a sleepover.” She smiles shyly. Catra grumbles.

“I hate that you make good points.” Scorpia’s smile widens into a grin.

“So… is that a yes?” Catra grumbles some more, but then nods, curtly. “Yes! Super Pal Duo sleepover!” She snatches Catra into a bear hug.

“Hey!” Catra protests, “Don’t make me regret this!” Grinning sheepishly, Scorpia places Catra back down, looking a little ruffled.

“Sorry, got a little excited.” Catra snorts.

“Yeah. But this is not a sleepover, ok? I’m just staying until I can walk on my own, and then I’m leaving. Got it?” Scorpia nods fervently.

“Yes, totally. 100%.” Catra groans.

“At least if I can’t stand you any more, I can just turn myself in.” Scorpia laughs and slaps Catra’s back, causing her to grunt.

“Oh wildcat, you say the funniest things.”

 

Scorpia finishes packing up the remainder of the supplies, as well as scuffing the ground to remove any trace that they had been there. Catra is situated back in the cell, the door open this time, since it is one of the only places to hide from view.

“Won’t they think it’s strange that you’re coming back from patrol in a prison skiff?” Catra asks, grumbling and shifting slightly to try and get comfortable. Scorpia shrugs.

“Maybe? But if it becomes a problem I’ll handle it. They’ll probably accept whatever I tell them, I am a Force Captain, after all.” Catra chuckles.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Being Force Captain does have some perks, at least.” Shooting a grin at Catra, Scorpia powers up the skiff’s engines, causing it to rise off the ground and shoot off, back towards the Fright Zone.

Very quickly, the gray-green industrial buildings of the Fright Zone come into view. Scorpia sets course for the vehicle bay nearest her own room, cutting a smooth path through the rusting hulks of buildings.

“Hey Scorpia?” Scorpia glances towards Catra, eyebrow raised questioningly. “How exactly are you going to get me to your room without anyone seeing?” Scorpia opens her mouth, then closes it as a thought occurs to her.

“You know, I hadn’t thought about that? But I’m sure we’ll figure something out!” Catra stares unbelievingly at Scorpia’s confident grin.

“Great. I’m going to die. Is it too late to go back to the cave?” Catra groans, right as the skiff glides into the open doors of the vehicle bay.


	4. An Audience, An Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia smuggles Catra into the Fright Zone, but before she can relax, she is summoned to an audience with Lord Hordak.

Scorpia walks through the gray-green corridors that make up the bulk of the Fright Zone, a supply pack slung over her shoulder. Her eyes swivel nervously from side to side, fighting to keep her rising terror in check and out of her stride. The bag she’s carrying rustles, causing her to pat it gently and shush it under her breath.

She rounds the corner into the hallway that leads to her room and her blood goes cold. Standing outside her door are a pair of soldiers, obviously waiting for her. She considers going back the way she came and figuring something else out, but one of the soldiers spots her and signals to their companion. Scorpia takes a deep breath and continues walking.

“What’s going on here?” she asks, managing to keep her voice mostly steady and hoping that they don’t notice the slight quiver.

The soldier she had addressed snaps their heels together and salutes before replying, “Lord Hordak has ordered your presence, Ma’am.”

Scorpia’s heart plummets into her stomach. Fighting to keep her voice steady, she says, “I understand. Thank you, soldier.” She matches their salute with one of her own. The soldiers, their task accomplished, turn and move past her down the hallway.

Scorpia opens the door and goes into her room. As soon as the door closes, she squeezes her eyes shut and lets out a soft sob. Hordak wants to see her. Hordak never wants to see her. He has to know, doesn’t he? Her train of thought is interrupted by a muffled noise from the pack under her arm.

“Oh shoot, sorry Wildcat.” She kneels down and gently sets the bag on the floor before opening it. A mane of tangled brown hair rises from the opening. Scorpia grabs Catra’s midriff and helps her sit upright, leaning against the wall just inside the door to her room.

“That,” Catra pauses to try and spit some of her hair out of her mouth, “was the worst idea ever. Why did I agree to be shoved into a bag, again?”

“Because you didn’t have any better ideas, remember?” Scorpia responds, smiling slightly. She delicately runs her claw along Catra’s cheek to pull the remaining strands of hair from her mouth before Catra swats it aside.

“Personal space.”

“Right, sorry,” Scorpia grins bashfully and pulls away, leaning against the opposite wall of the entryway. Catra eyes her, a hint of uncertainty creeping into her eyes.

“I heard all that.” She says, pointing her thumb towards the door. Scorpia nods and presses her eyes closed.

“You don’t think he knows, does he?” She asks, her voice barely a whisper. Catra looks at the door, eyes narrowed, then shakes her head.

“If he did know, we probably would have been met at the vehicle bay by an entire battalion, not two goons waiting for you at your door.” Catra muses. Scorpia sighs.

“You’re right. Like always.” She snorts, then pushes herself to her feet, dusting her uniform off. It wouldn’t do to go in front of Lord Hordak looking like she had been sitting on the floor. “You want me to carry you to the bed?”

Catra eyes the single piece of furniture in the room, a steel-framed standard issue bunk, and shakes her head. “Nah. To be honest the floor is probably more comfortable.” She shoots Scorpia a crooked smile. “Besides, I want to see if I can keep up my progress with trying to walk.”

Scorpia nods, smiling lightly at Catra. “Don’t push yourself too hard, though. I should be back soon.” She presses the keypad to open the door and steps out into the hallway. She turns and waves slightly to Catra, who has an odd look on her face as the door closes.

 

Scorpia crosses the catwalk to Hordak’s sanctum, towards the large door emblazoned with the Horde insignia. As she approaches, the door hisses open. She is definitely expected. She swallows, pushing down her fear, and steps inside.

As usual, the entire massive room is dark, except for a spot of light illuminating Hordak’s throne on its pedestal. Hisses and whispers from the tangle of pipes and machinery that snake through the shadows fill the otherwise stagnant air. The sound of Scorpia’s boots against the metal floor sounds like an invasion, an unwelcome presence.

Hordak is in his throne when Scorpia enters. He looks up at her, red, glowing eyes seeming to pierce to her very soul. “Force Captain Scorpia.” His voice, though its tone is no more than a whisper, echoes throughout the chamber. She immediately falls to one knee, face downturned, sweat starting to bead across her forehead.

“You summoned me, Lord Hordak?” Scorpia’s voice trembles.

“Yes… I am sure that you are aware by now that Force Captain Catra has been stripped of her rank and been banished to Beast Island.” Scorpia swallows thickly. Is this a test? Does he know?

“Yes.” She replies, unable to say any more.

“And do you know why, Force Captain?” This is definitely a test. But what is the right answer? She decides to go with the most obvious answer.

“She… she allowed Shadow Weaver to escape.”

“Hmmm.” Scorpia hears Hordak get to his feet and start down the staircase from his throne to her. Scorpia squeezes her eyes shut and struggles to control her heart.

“Through her negligence, Shadow Weaver was allowed to escape, yes. But before she was banished, she told another of her failure. Who did she tell, Force Captain?”

Scorpia opens her eyes and looks up, meeting Hordak’s gaze. He knows the answer, of course he does. Somehow, he knows that Catra told her about Shadow Weaver. Her head falls forward.

“Me,” she murmurs. “She told me.”

Hordak’s feet come into her field of vision. He is standing above her now, but she dares not look up.

“Hmmm.” Scorpia hunches her shoulders, ready for whatever blow is coming, whatever he had done to Catra. “Well done.”

Startled, Scorpia looks up, but Hordak’s face is impassive. He turns away from her and stalks back towards his throne.

“You have succeeded where Force Captain Catra failed. I gave her a simple test; one chance to come clean, and she failed. So, she was no longer useful to me, and I discarded her.”

Scorpia struggles between fear and rising anger at the casual way Hordak says that he discarded Catra. Sensing that some kind of reply is expected of her, she fights down her twisting emotions long enough to mumble, “I won’t fail you.”

“See that you don’t.” He reaches his throne and sits, resting his head on one fist. “I am told that you took a patrol outside of the Fright Zone. Do not do so again. Until I say so, you are to remain in the Fright Zone. Is that clear?” Not trusting her voice, Scorpia nods. “Then you are dismissed.”

Scorpia rises to her feet and salutes before turning on her heel and walking as fast as she can without running to leave Hordak’s presence. She doesn’t let up the pace until she hears the great doors close behind her and she’s across the catwalk and back into the dimly-lit passageway beyond.

She falls against the wall, letting out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. She covers her face with her claws and struggles to regain her composure. She couldn’t be seen walking around the Fright Zone in this condition. Not even a Force Captain can get away with vulnerability.

 

“Hey.” The sudden voice startles Scorpia. She pushes herself away from the wall and drops her claws, coughing and smoothing out her uniform. When she sees it’s only Lonnie making a bemused face, she sighs.

“Oh, good, it’s you…” She smiles. “Can I do something for you?”

Lonnie raises an eyebrow. “I was checkin’ on you, actually. I heard ya got back from patrol and got summoned straight up to see Lord Hordak. Doesn’t look like it went great.” She observes wryly.

Scorpia lets out an embarrassed laugh and rubs the beck of her neck with a claw, blushing slightly. “Well I’m still here, so it didn’t go too bad, right?”

Lonnie snorts. “Yeah, sure. Hey, I’m starving. What about you? Wanna go get some grub? I hear they just got some of those weird orange things that you like.”

“I…” Scorpia hesitates. She is pretty hungry, but she’s also worried about Catra. She can’t really refuse without looking suspicious, though. “Sure,” she finishes.

“Well come on then.” Lonnie turns away, looking over her shoulder and waving for Scorpia to follow. Scorpia trots to catch up, mind still dwelling on Catra and her encounter with Hordak


	5. Stew and Oranges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lonnie and Scorpia talk over a meal in the mess hall.
> 
> Scorpia shares a treat with Catra.

The mess hall is fairly quiet when Lonnie and Scorpia enter, since they’re in between shift changes right now. They grab a couple trays and are served by a cadet behind the counter: a bowl of some kind of stew, a hunk of tough bread, and half a fruit each. They find an empty table in a secluded corner and sit facing each other.

Scorpia immediately sets into her food. Anything, even mystery meat stew, tastes like heaven after days of nothing but marching rations. Her claws make short work of the bread, tearing it into tiny pieces and scattering it into the stew for a little texture. Lonnie watches, a mix of horror and amusement on her face as she watches Scorpia wolf down the food.

“Slow down there,” she warns jokingly before dodging a flying glob of stew. Scorpia looks up and smiles, blushing.

“Sorry. Guess I was hungrier than I thought,” she says, straightening up. She resumes eating, this time at a more normal pace and managing to keep all of it either in the bowl or in her mouth. Lonnie snorts.

“Yeah, guess so,” she agrees, tearing a chuck from her own bread and soaking it in her stew. “So…” she eyes Scorpia. “What’d Hordak wanna talk about? Or is it Force Captain business?” she asks, finishing in a passable, if sarcastic, imitation of Catra’s voice.

Scorpia stops dead, spoon midway between her bowl and her mouth. She lays it back down, face fallen. “No, no, it’s nothing like that.” She frowns. Lonnie doesn’t like Catra much, Scorpia knows that. But Scorpia considers Lonnie a friend, and she doesn’t like to lie to friends. “He… he wanted to tell me that Catra’s been banished.”

Lonnie quirks an eyebrow. “Yeah, I heard about that.” She leans back and looks at the ceiling. “Can’t say she doesn’t deserve it, though. Sorry.” She glances back at Scorpia, who waves the comment off, her mind obviously somewhere else. Lonnie purses her lips and lets out a low whistle. “First Adora, now Catra… Just me, Kyle, and Rogelio left from our squad…” She muses.

Scorpia taps a claw against the table. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“How do you feel about Kyle and Rogelio?”

Lonnie scoffs. “What kinda question is that? We’re a team.”

“I know that but… Are you friends? What would you do for them?”

Lonnie’s eyes soften. “Yeah… yeah, we’re friends.” She crosses her arms. “Rogelio’s strong, but he’s quiet. Doesn’t know how to deal with people. And Kyle, well, Kyle’s an idiot, but he’s my idiot. We watch out for each other. I keep ‘em out of trouble.” She lets out a hollow laugh. “If it weren’t for me, I doubt Kyle would have lasted this long, and he would’ve dragged Rogelio down, the big dumb lizard that he is. Always had a soft spot for Kyle.” She trails off, apparently lost in thought.

“You care a lot about them?”

Lonnie opens her mouth to refute it, but relents. “Yeah.”

“What about Adora?”

Lonnie frowns. “Where’s all this coming from?”

Scorpia shrugs. “I don’t know. You just never talk about her, not like Catra does. Did.”

Lonnie huffs, “well maybe some people can learn to let go.” She looks away, but her face softens. “Adora was the best of us. Literally. Never came in second place. Just her being in the room could make the squad fight harder. She held us together. Now, that’s my job.” She starts blushing furiously, then grumbles, “Why am I tellin ya all this?”

Scorpia grins broadly, saying, “Because we’re friends!”

Lonnie snorts and smiles slightly, still blushing. “Yeah. I guess we are.” She leans over her bowl and takes a spoonful of her food. “You know, when I first met you I thought you were an incompetent idiot.” She grins at the hurt look on Scorpia’s face and pops the spoon in her mouth, then pulls it out and points it at Scorpia. “You’re still an idiot, and the jury is still out on incompetent, but at least you care. I doubt you’ll get my team killed, which makes you alright in my book. Plus, you’re nowhere near as full of yourself as Catra was.”

Scorpia chuckles, shaking her head. “That was the longest way I’ve ever heard anyone say that they like me. You know, you and Catra aren’t actually all that different? You’re both so strong and smart, and you both do care, even if you don’t show it very often. Did I ever tell you about the time that we were on a boat, but not the boat that you’re probably thinking of, this one was up in the Northern Reaches, and…”

“Scorpia,” Lonnie interrupts. Scorpia snaps her mouth shut and looks at Lonnie expectantly. “Why do you keep doin that?”

Scorpia feels the back of her neck start to prickle. “D-doing what?”

Lonnie raises an eyebrow. “You keep on talkin like Catra is still here.”

Scopria sputters, “W-well I- Um..” She struggles for a plausible answer. Yes, she likes Lonnie, but this is a huge secret, and she has no idea who she can trust. Besides, does Lonnie’s dislike of Catra outweigh her like of Scorpia?

Lonnie shakes her head and folds her arms across her chest. “Look, I know you liked her, Hordak knows why, but you have to move on. If you keep dwelling on her like this, it’ll get you in the same hot water that she got thrown in.”

Scorpia sighs and covers her face with her claws. “Can’t I just hold on to her as long as I can?” she mumbles.

Lonnie groans, “Just listen to yourself! Catra got in trouble because she couldn’t just let it go, Adora or Shadow Weaver!”

Scorpia lets her claws fall and looks away to the side. “Yeah. You’re right.” Deep down, she knows Lonnie is right. As long as she keeps trying to keep Catra around, the more chance there is that she’ll be found out and they’ll both get banished or executed. But, she wonders, now that she’s known Catra, how could she live a life without her?

Lonnie reaches across the table and lays one hand on Scorpia’s claw. She looks up, startled, to see Lonnie holding out her half a fruit. “You want this? To be honest, I’m not really a fan of ‘em.”

Scorpia smiles and nods. “Yeah. Thanks.”

 

Scorpia rounds the corner and walks towards the door to her room, both halves of the fruit and an extra hunk of bread held behind her back. She and Lonnie had talked for a little while longer, but she had started to get anxious about Catra, and so had excused herself as soon as she felt was polite. She taps the keypad, causing the door to slide open.

“Hey, wildcat, I’m back!” She enters the room and shows off the food. “I brought you some…” she trails off as she sees Catra, sitting up in Scorpia’s bed, data pad across her knees. Even from across the room Scorpia can hear that she’s watching the She-Ra file again.

Scorpia shakes her head sadly and moves over to the bed. She sits on the edge, causing the entire structure to creak as the springs settle with the weight. Catra glances up at her, but then her gaze returns to the pad.

“I still can’t really believe it.” Catra’s voice is so low that Scorpia isn’t completely sure she had actually spoken at first. “I thought I meant more to her than that.”

Scorpia isn’t sure how to respond. She has her own issues with Adora. She’s jealous of the bond between her and Catra, and also furious with her for leaving Catra behind. The worst part is, based on everything that she knows about Adora, Scorpia is pretty sure that they would have been great friends, if they’d gotten the chance. Now, though, she’s not sure she could ever forgive Adora for what she did to Catra.

Wordlessly, she offers half a fruit to Catra. She looks at it for a moment, uncertain, then reaches it and takes it. She turns it around, examining it from all angles, then looks back towards Scorpia. “How… do you eat this?” she asks, causing Scorpia to chuckle.

“You don’t remember these, either? You just have to peel the skin off first. Like this.” She demonstrates, carefully using the tip of her dactyl (the movable part of the claw) to peel off the thick outer surface of the fruit to expose the juicy flesh inside. She pulls off a piece, and once again wonders at how it’s almost like it was cut up, ready for eating, before it was even picked. Maybe it’s that princess’ plant magic or something.

She pops the piece into her mouth and bites down. The sudden burst of tangy juice causes her to grin uncontrollably and make a satisfied humming noise. Catra watches carefully and, apparently assuaged that it isn’t some kind of trick, follows Scorpia’s lead. She delicately sniffs the piece before putting it in her mouth.

Scorpia watches, still smiling, as Catra’s eyes widen and her tail swishes back and forth. She immediately gobbles the rest of her half, juice dribbling down her chin. Scorpia throws back her head and laughs at the sight of Catra chewing and licking her fingers like some greedy child who snuck a treat from the pantry when their parents weren’t looking.

“I see you like it,” she jokes, still chuckling slightly. Catra nods, still licking her lips.

“You said that’s from Plumeria?” Scorpia nods confirmation. “What does a girl have to do to get taken prisoner there?” she giggles, causing Scorpia’s heart to flutter.

“You want mine, too?” She holds out the other half of the fruit. Catra eyes it greedily and starts to reach out, but stops herself and shakes her head.

“You said that you really like these things, right? Back at the cave?” Scorpia beams at her and nods furiously in thanks. She eats the rest of the fruit at a much slower pace than Catra, savoring each piece before pulling off the next and eating that, too. Catra continues to lick and smack her lips, trying to get every last trace of flavor.

Once Scorpia is finished with her treat, she leans back on her elbows and sighs, satisfied. She looks over at Catra and asks, “You still hungry? It’s not much, but I have some bread, too. I would have brought you something more, but today it was stew and I wasn’t really sure how to bring it to you.”

Catra shrugs and looks like she’s about to answer when something catches her eye. She looks towards the entranceway, a mixture of fear and rage taking over her face. Scorpia turns to see what she’s looking at, and her blood goes cold.

Standing just inside the doorway, leaning against the wall, is Lonnie, her expression unreadable.

And she’s staring directly at Catra.


	6. Decisions, Protectors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lonnie has discovered Scorpia's secret, and now has a decision to make.
> 
> Scorpia contemplates life in the Horde.

The room is completely still, aside from the occasional twitch of Catra’s tail. The air between the bed and the door practically buzzes with tension, as Lonnie matches Catra and Scorpia’s stares evenly.

“You really are an idiot.” Scorpia and Catra both jump at Lonnie’s sudden statement. Catra scowls and opens her mouth to say something, but Lonnie holds up a finger. “Now, now, Catra. You be nice and quiet. For once in my life, I’ve got you right where I want you, and I wanna savor it without hearin’ any of your caterwaulin’.”

“Lonnie…” Scorpia says cautiously. Lonnie frowns and looks at her.

“And you. I jus’ got through sayin’ that you prolly wouldn’t get my team killed, and then you pull this stunt? What were you thinkin’? If Hordak finds out about this…”

“He doesn’t have to find out. Catra just needs some time to recover, and then she’s leaving for real this time.” Scorpia almost chokes on the words. She doesn’t want to think about Catra leaving.

Lonnie shakes her head. “And how do you expect to keep this a secret? I’m surprised Hordak hasn’t already strung you up!”

“I don’t know how! But I won’t just leave her to die!” Scorpia yells, tears starting to pool at the corners of her eyes. Lonnie looks startled at the sudden outburst but shakes it off.

“Why the hell is she so important to you? Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation in that thick skull of yours?! We all jus' do what we have to to survive, why you gotta be so… so…” She groans.

Scorpia shakes her head. “I don’t expect you to understand.” She sighs, “look, do what you think you have to. I won’t stop you.” Catra shoots an alarmed look at Scorpia, but her gaze is locked on Lonnie.

Lonnie looks down and shrugs. “If I blow the whistle on this… A Force Captain harboring a fugitive in the Fright Zone… It would mean a promotion for sure,” she muses.

Scorpia nods, but is silent, eyes still locked on Lonnie’s face.

Lonnie groans and rubs her forehead with one hand. “Damn it… What kind of friend would I be if I did that, though?” Scorpia sighs, the tension going out of her shoulders. She gives a small, grateful smile to Lonnie, who nods in response, then locks eyes with Catra. “This isn’t for you. If it were just you, I’d turn you in. In a heartbeat. Don’t forget that. You’re lucky to have Scorpia.” With that, she turns to leave, and the door shuts behind her.

 

Scorpia leans her elbows on her knees, shaking her head and still smiling slightly. “I gotta admit, I was worried for a moment there. I didn’t think that she’d turn us in, but I really wasn’t sure.” Her face goes serious. “I’m glad she didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to.” She didn’t want to hurt Lonnie, but if it had been her or Catra, the choice would’ve been simple.

Scorpia shakes her head to clear those thoughts and turns towards Catra, smile returned to her face. Her face falls, however, when she sees the dark look on Catra’s face.

Catra’s voice is a low growl when she says, “I don’t need anyone to protect me. Not Adora, and certainly not you.” All the ease in her body from earlier is completely gone, replaced by tensed muscles, flattened ears, and limbs pulled close to her torso.

Scorpia looks away and rubs the back of her neck. “Well, no one said you did, Wildcat…”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Catra snaps.

Scorpia flinches, but continues, “I don’t think you need to be protected. I’m just trying to help you!” She reaches out to Catra but is stopped by a venomous glare.

“I don’t need your help. I don’t know you, no matter how much you say that we’re friends.”

Scorpia sighs. “Yeah, you’ve said that before. That doesn’t matter though. I’m still going to help you the best I can.” Catra stares at her, uncertain how to respond to that. Scorpia groans as she pushes herself to her feet. “It’s been a long day. We should both try and get some sleep.”

Catra glances around the room quickly, then says, “There’s only one bed.”

Scorpia nods. “Yep. You can have it. I’ll just find the softest corner of the floor, or something. After all, like you said,” she half turns towards Catra, the corners of her lips raised slightly, “the floor is probably more comfortable than the bed anyway, right?”

Catra frowns. “It’s your bed, though.”

Scorpia shrugs and turns away again. “You’re not feeling well, you need it more than me. I’ll be fine.”

Catra, for one reason or another, decides to not argue further. She watches Scorpia as she moves over to a wall panel to switch off the lights, then moves to a corner of the room and sinks down, her back to the wall, groaning under her breath. Catra shrugs to herself and lays down, curling up into a tight ball, forgoing the blanket or pillow.

 

Scorpia doesn’t have Catra’s night vision but hears the rustling as she settles down to sleep, and softly lets out a sigh. To be honest, she’s pretty certain that she won’t be able to sleep at all on the floor. Unlike most Horde soldiers, she prefers softer surfaces to sleep on. Some of the best sleep she’s ever had was on the soft, springy grass while out on campaign. Cold, hard steel is about as far from that as you can get. Still, she has to try.

Grumbling slightly to herself, she wiggles into a laying down position, trying to find any way to lie that’s at all comfortable, with little luck. Finally, she gives up and settles for lying on her back, spread-eagled, staring through the dark at the ceiling.

As sleepless minds tend to do, Scorpia finds her thoughts racing back and forward about nothing at all. Finally, her brain catches on something that Lonnie had said, and sticks there.

“We all just do what we have to to survive…” she whispers to herself, feeling her brow furrow into a frown.

Lonnie’s right, of course. The entire Horde is built on a principle of doing whatever you have to do see another moonrise. Soldiers keep their heads down, obeying orders and secretly scraping and scrounging for anything that might give them a little bit of comfort or a better chance at living just a little longer. In that kind of environment, trying to protect someone else is paramount to suicide. It’s only a matter of time before sticking your neck out like that gets it caught by the ax.

But what kind of life is that? Caring only about yourself, just surviving until one day you aren’t? What about friendship, what about protecting those you care about?

What about love?

Scorpia glances in the direction of the bed, invisible in the darkness. She had never been very good at keeping her head down. She’s too large, too loud, too caring. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, everyone she had tried to get close to had fled, trying to keep themselves safe from the consequences of getting too close to someone. Until Catra.

Sure, she always acted abrasive, like she wanted nothing to do with Scorpia. But then why did she keep coming to her for help, for companionship, even? She knows that Catra does care, deep down. Or, at least, she did. Before Hordak.

Her gaze turns towards where she knows the entrance is. Lonnie is horrible at taking her own advice, Scorpia muses. She herself admitted that she protects Kyle and Rogelio, and now she’s protected Scorpia, too. Scorpia smiles to herself. Maybe Lonnie was wrong. Maybe the Horde is wrong. Maybe there is a way to live, to be safe. If everyone protects each other, then maybe no one has to be alone to be safe.

Scorpia’s smile falls. But that can’t happen, can it? As long as Hordak is in charge, as long as the Horde keeps everyone alone and afraid, that could never happen.

There’s no way. As long as Hordak rules the Horde, there’s no way.

As long as Hordak rules the Horde…

 

Scorpia’s train of thought is interrupted by a soft noise. She sits up, rubbing her eyes with the inside of her forearm, then strains her eyes towards the source of the noise. It almost sounded like it came from the bed.

Another noise, this time definitely from the direction of the bed. A rustling, like cloth moving against cloth.

“Catra?” Scorpia asks, voice soft, just in case she is actually still asleep.

There is no response, only another soft noise, then the creak of metal, like someone is walking towards where Scorpia is sitting.

“Hey…” suddenly, Catra’s voice comes out of the gloom, quiet and a little uncertain. “I… I can’t sleep.”

Scorpia blinks, surprised, but quickly asks, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not used to sleeping alone…” Catra’s reply is tinged with a note of embarrassment, like she’s ashamed of admitting being that vulnerable.

Scorpia shakes her head. “You never mentioned anything about it before…”

“Well maybe I figured out a way to deal with it before,” Catra snaps. She’s silent, then when she speaks again, her voice is apologetic. “If I did, I don’t remember, now. I guess I must have just been too tired for it to bother me the past few nights.” Scorpia hears a rustling and imagines that Catra just crossed her arms and shrugged in that way that she has.

Scorpia smiles softly and nods. “Yeah, ok. You want me to sleep with you?” Her brain takes a moment to catch up with what she just asked, then she backpedals, “Oh- uh, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant, sleep in the bed, also…”

Catra snorts. “I know what you meant. Don’t make me regret this. And no touching me. This doesn’t change anything. I just want to get a good night’s rest tonight.”

Scorpia nods and smiles gratefully. “Yeah, of course.” She pushes herself to her feet and shuffles towards the bed, holding her claws out in front of her to try and stop herself from running into it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, and the first part of her to find the bed happens to be her shin, causing her to suck in a sharp breath in pain.

Catra snickers, and Scorpia feels something soft brush against her. A moment later, the bed creaks and rustles slightly as Catra climbs into it and curls into a comfortable position at its foot.

Gingerly, Scorpia feels for the bed and, after figuring out exactly where it is by touch, lowers herself so that she’s sitting on its edge. She lays down, carefully folding her legs in so that she doesn’t kick Catra and pulls the blanket tight around herself. She sighs happily and lets her eyes drift closed.

“Goodnight, Scorpia.” Scorpia’s eyes open in surprise, and she looks down towards the dark lump at the foot of the bed. Catra doesn’t move, and Scorpia shakes her head and sinks back down into the pillow. She was probably just hearing things, but just in case…

“Goodnight, Wildcat.” When there’s no response, Scorpia smiles to herself.

This is worth fighting for, she thinks, as she drifts off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little late in coming! I had a bit of a block but I'm satisfied with how it ended up coming out. Hopefully the next chapter will be finished sooner! Comments are welcome and encouraged!


	7. Runestones and Princesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia's aimless wandering brings her to the Black Garnet chamber, but someone is watching her...

Scorpia’s footsteps echo through the empty halls, cutting through the Fright Zone’s ambient background of humming and groaning machinery. Lost in thought, she doesn’t pay attention to where she’s going, letting her feet carry her wherever they will.

Since Catra fell out of favor with Hordak, the balance of power in the upper echelons of the Horde’s command structure has been thrown out of whack. Without a designated second-in-command, Hordak has taken to delivering orders to a council of Force Captains personally, each with their own agendas and ambitions. While they try to be secretive about it, Scorpia can plainly see that each of the captains is moving against the others, trying to maneuver themselves into position at Hordak’s side, where they will be able to appoint a new Force Captain who serves their interests well. No doubt Hordak is also watching closely, looking for whatever qualities he desires in a right hand.

She sighs and runs a claw over her hair. She’s never really been ambitious. Honestly, she doesn’t really know how she became Force Captain in the first place. Catra is the ambitious one, and Scorpia had been happy to support her ambitions, before those ambitions got her in trouble.

Suddenly, she feels the hair on the back of her neck rise. She stops in her tracks and tears herself out of her musings, looking around at where she’s found herself. A door catches her eye and she feels a chill run down her spine as she recognizes it. Somehow, she’s found her way to the Black Garnet chamber without realizing it.

She glances up and down the corridor. That must be why she hasn’t seen anyone recently; most tend to avoid this area if they can help it, and now that Shadow Weaver is gone, there isn’t much reason to come here.

Every nerve in Scorpia’s body is telling her to run and not look back, but something stops her. She glances to either side again, making extra sure that the coast is clear, then takes a step forward, then another. She reaches out and taps the control to open the door, and it slides open with a hiss, revealing the dimly-let chamber beyond.

 

Inside is much as Scorpia remembers it. Shadows gather improbably along the circular walls, converging in the very center, where the Black Garnet stands. The remnants of Entrapta’s machines are scattered around the base of the runestone, their bent and twisted shells evidence of the power that She-Ra wields, even so far away in Bright Moon.

Scorpia feels a familiar dread as she looks the deep red stone up and down, but something compels her to come even closer. She takes several hesitant steps towards it but stops short, staring up at the stone.

“This would have been mine,” she whispers to herself, then frowns. Where had that come from? Sure, it was true, but she had never thought of the Black Garnet as hers before, really. It had always been the Horde’s, or Shadow Weaver’s.

But that isn’t right, is it? It wasn’t always the Horde’s. Her family once ruled their kingdom using this stone, long before the Horde landed on Etheria. Her family…

Scorpia casts her memory as far back as it goes, but she can’t recall anything, not a single scrap of a memory, about her family. As far back as she can remember, there has only been the Horde. Everything she knows, she has been taught since birth by the Horde.

They taught her that her family was hated and cast out by the other princesses, cast out to live in the wastes. That the Horde arrived, weary travelers from somewhere beyond Etheria, and found kindred spirits in her people. That together, they built the Fright Zone and struck back at the cruel princesses who had shunned them.

Scorpia’s brow furrows as she takes another step towards the Garnet. For a long time, she had accepted that without question. But recently, doubts have begun to sneak into the corners of her mind. She’s seen first-hand what the Horde does to people now. Catra gave the Horde everything it wanted of her, and it left her broken and abused. How is that good, or even necessary? If they are so cruel, how are they any better than the princesses? Or are they worse?

Another step. Scorpia stands at the foot of the Garnet, neck craned to look up at it. Gingerly, she reaches out a claw, but stops just short of touching its surface. She furtively glances behind her, making absolutely certain that no one is standing in the door, watching her. All clear. She sighs and closes her eyes, then closes the last couple of inches, gently placing the tip of her claw on the smooth-cut surface of the stone.

She instinctively tenses, sure that something will react, but after a couple of moments of nothing, cautiously opens one eye, then another. Still nothing. She lets out a relieved laugh but doesn’t pull away. What was it Entrapta had said? That her connection with the runestone had been broken, or that she had never had one? That makes sense, she supposes. A small corner of her cant help but feel a little sad, however.

It is odd, though. For some reason she had expected the stone to be cold. Instead, it feels warm, almost alive, even…

 

“HELLO!” Startled by the sudden voice behind her, Scorpia jumps, tearing her claw away from the Black Garnet, and spins around, mind already racing to try and explain why she is in here. To her surprise, however, she doesn’t immediately see anyone. She glances left and right, then a shock of purple catches her eye. She looks down, and sighs when she sees Entrapta, standing much closer than most people consider comfortable, grinning widely up at her.

“Whuff, you scared me! You’re really sneaky, you know that? How did you get in here?” Scorpia feels her lips curl into a smile, despite the shock just now. She crosses her arms and leans back, enjoying the gentle warmth of the runestone against her back.

“Yes, I have been told that before, my hypothesis is that people simply don’t consider the ventilation system in their everyday lives, they should! It is an excellent way to get around quickly. Anyway, that’s how I got in here.” Entrapta points a gloved finger at an open vent high up in the wall, the grating swinging gently below it.

Scorpia looks at the vent and shakes her head, still smiling. “Yeah I don’t think I could fit in there. I’m glad you seem to like the vents, though. What are you doing in here, though?”

“Upgrading the power grid! The existing infrastructure is severely outdated, so I have to replace almost all of it so that it can handle the power load necessary to support Hordak’s portal project, I saw you through the grate and thought I’d say hi!” She leans over to look behind Scorpia. “Also, to ask what you were doing in here, were you attempting to connect to the runestone?” Suddenly she scoots around Scorpia, using her hair to lift herself up to examine the runestone more closely, pressing her palms against its surface.

Scorpia blinks as she takes a moment to process all of what Entrapta just said, then shakes her head. “I was, uhm. I don’t really know what I was doing in here, to be honest?” She rubs the back of her neck. “I just kind of came here by accident, or something, and decided to touch it. I wasn’t trying to connect to it, or anything like that.” She is silent for a few moments, then looks at Entrapta out of the corner of her eyes. “Is that even possible?”

“It may be theoretically possible, but without a current user to initiate the process, it would likely be incredibly difficult” A curl of purple hair reaches into one of Entrapta’s many pockets and retrieves her recorder, then presses one of the buttons. “Fright Zone log, day…” She furrows her brow, whispering numbers under her breath for a few moments, then continues, “Sixty-two, maybe? I may have lost track of the days while I’ve been working on the power grid. Reminder: check the date. Scorpia has expressed interest in connecting to the Black Garnet, investigating.” Another press of the button stops the recording, and she looks down at Scorpia, eyebrows raised.

“O-oh, no, I didn’t mean- I mean, uh,” Scorpia stammers, pushing off of the Black Garnet and waving her claws in front of her. After a moment, she sighs, and slumps slightly, shrugging. “Ok, yeah, maybe I did. But you just said that it would be really difficult, right? Without a current user, whatever that means.”

Entrapta turns back to the runestone and runs her hands along the smooth surface slowly while she replies, “According to my research, a connection with a runestone is usually formed when a person with an established connection, often a mother or father, uses their influence over the runestone to bond their child to it, allowing them to access the runestone’s power.” She starts the recorder again, then asks, “Who was the previous user of the Black Garnet? Other than the one known as Shadow Weaver, of course, as she appears to be an outlier.”

Scorpia is silent for a moment, not realizing that the question was directed at her until Entrapta shoots her a questioning glance. “Oh, um, I guess probably my mom? But I don’t know for sure. I never really knew her, or my dad, I guess.”

Entrapta nods, the continues, “Given the lack of first-hand information, it may be best to research this topic using the Horde’s computer system. Possible search keywords: Black Garnet, Scorpia, Queen. Log to be updated.” She clicks the button one last time and returns the recorder to her pocket. Suddenly, her hair propels her away from the runestone and towards the vent. Almost before Scorpia can react, she has climbed into the opening and closed the grate behind her.

“Wait!” Scorpia calls out after her. After a moment, her welding visor appears, eyes glowing in an almost sinister fashion. Scorpia swallows, then continues, “Have you heard about Catra?”

The visor tilts downwards, but is facelessly impenetrable. When Entrapta speaks, it is uncharacteristically soft. “I- yes, I saw what happened to her.”

Scorpia’s eyes widen, and she takes an unconscious step toward the grate. “You saw? What happened?!” Entrapta pulls back sharply, obviously startled by Scorpia’s sudden outburst. She takes a deep breath, and asks again, in a measured tone of voice, “Can you tell me what you saw, please?”

The visor is silent for a long moment, causing Scorpia tilt her head in confusion. Just when she’s about to speak, a voice comes from the vent, but it’s not Entrapta’s. It’s Catra’s. Scorpia’s eyes widen as she understands; Entrapta recorded Hordak and Catra’s last exchange.

She listens silently, her lungs feeling like they are being filled with tar as Catra gets caught in her lie, Hordak demonstrating that, somehow, he had recorded her conversation with Scorpia. There is a mechanical whirring that Scorpia doesn’t understand, then a noise that she does understand all too well.

“She’s choking!” she realizes, a sick taste in her mouth. She shakes her head as her mind runs, wondering exactly what made Catra choke like that. Did he strangle her? But then why are there no marks on her neck? Was she poisoned? What was that noise? Was that whatever did that to her?

She sighs, shaking her head to clear those thoughts before looking back up at the grate, thanks on her lips, but it dies when she sees that the vent is dark. Entrapta is gone.

Scorpia groans and smacks her forehead. She hadn’t even told Entrapta that Catra is ok! Briefly, she eyes the vent, but decides against trying to follow her. She’d just get stuck. Entrapta would probably pop up again, and she can tell her then.

Mind made up, she turns toward the door and starts to leave, but stops, her claw inches from the control panel. She looks over her shoulder at the vent, brow furrowed.

The reason that Hordak had caught Catra’s lie was because Scorpia had made her open up.

It’s her fault that Catra got hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please someone give them both a hug. Maybe someday they'll be happy. Comments and criticism are both welcome and requested! Thanks for reading!


	8. Confessions, Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia is consumed with guilt, but how will Catra respond when she finds out what's bothering her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit of an experiment in shifting the viewpoint, let me know what you think of it, and if you want to see more chapters from viewpoints other than Scorpia's!

Catra looks up when the whirring of the opening door alerts her to Scorpia’s return. Her tail twitches, then she looks back down to the pad in her hand.

“How was the Force Captain meeting?” she asks. “Are Octavia and Grizzlor at each other’s throats yet?” She bares her teeth in a lopsided grin, still not looking at Scorpia.

“Oh- uhm, yeah, a little. I think they’re trying to keep it kind of hidden, though?” Scorpia has an odd note in her voice which, even with her limited memory of her, Catra recognizes as unusual. She looks back up at her, brow furrowed.

Scorpia is standing in the entryway, shoulders hunched over on herself. She taps her claws against each other in front of her, her gaze focused somewhere in the corner of the room, avoiding Catra’s gaze.

Catra’s eyes narrow and her voice gains a slightly dark tone as she asks, “What happened?” Catra can recognize guilt when she sees it. For a moment, panic grips her chest. What if she told the other Force Captains about her? Her ears sweep back, and her tail begins to sway back and forth.

“I- I…” Scorpia seems to fold in on herself even more, if possible. Finally, with a heaving sob, she bursts out, “Its my fault! It’s my fault that all of this is happening! I made you tell me about Shadow Weaver and then Hordak recorded our conversation and that’s why he choked you and banished you and it’s all my fault!” Scorpia falls to her knees and covers her face with her claws, breaking out into ugly tears and heavy sobbing.

Catra blinks in surprise. Simply out of sheer shock, the tension goes out of her body as she watches Scorpia on the floor, crying. She’s not exactly used to people tearfully admitting to and apologizing for their mistakes. She isn’t really sure what to do with it.

Even more surprising to her, however, is that she doesn’t feel angry. Sure, she has some holes in her memory, but she’s pretty sure that normally, if someone admitted anything like what Scorpia just did, they would have to ask for forgiveness from a shredded face. Maybe she’s just not strong enough to be properly angry yet.

She closes her eyes and sighs, setting the data pad aside. She raises her hands to the sides of her face and shifts her headband slightly to rub her temples with her fingertips. That blubbering is getting a little annoying.

“Scorpia,” Catra suddenly cuts in, startling Scorpia so that she stops sobbing with a hiccup. “Cut that out. You’re giving me a headache.”

Scorpia is shocked into silence for a few moments, then stumbles over her words. “I- you- I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

Catra raises a hand outwards, silencing Scorpia again. “I just said stop that. No more apologizing.”

Scorpia nods dumbly, a wide-eyed look on her face. Catra sighs again and looks away from that gaze. She definitely isn’t used to people looking at her like that.

“You can stop staring at me, too.”

Scorpia shakes herself out of it, and gives Catra a small, grateful smile. “Thank you, Wildcat.”

Catra grunts in response. She’s given up on trying to get Scorpia to stop using that nickname. She tells herself it’s because once Scorpia has got something in her head, it’s almost impossible to shift it. What she won’t admit, however, is that there is a small part of her that appreciates it. It makes her feel fierce.

“So, are you just going to sit on the floor all day?” she asks, wryly. “I still want to hear about that meeting. Give me all the juicy details of how those idiots are going to shoot themselves in the foot.” She looks back towards Scorpia, smiling crookedly.

“Oh, uh, yeah! Ok.” Scorpia grins back, her honest smile meeting Catra’s sardonic one. She pushes herself to her feet and dusts herself off as she moves towards the bed. She sits on the foot of the bed, causing it to creak in protest. “Well, Octavia has been requisitioning more and more ships and troops. I think she might be gearing up for an assault on the Sea Gate, but she hasn’t said so out loud, instead she’s claiming to be running recon patrols along the coast. Grizzlor, meanwhile, has been pushing hard for another assault on Plumeria. Since the Whispering Wood has regrown, he…”

 

Catra listens to Scorpia go on for about an hour or two, offering only the bare minimum of commentary. According to her, the other Force Captains are convinced that Catra was a failure, and that they can do so much better at her plans than she could. Unfortunately, Horde resources are spread thin with the number of recent Princess victories, and so none of them can muster enough manpower to effectively launch an assault without cooperating with the others, which they are too mistrustful and arrogant to even think about.

“What would you do?” Catra suddenly asks, stopping Scorpia in her tracks.

“You want to know what I think?” Scorpia responds, incredulously.

Catra nods, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, that’s why I asked.”

Scorpia blinks, then breaks out into a smile. “Oh- ok! Well… I’d probably do a two-pronged assault. Both Plumeria and the Kingdom of Snows are lightly defended with Frosta and Perfuma assisting the Alliance, right? But, the Kingdom of Snows is father away from Bright Moon, and so it would be harder for the Princesses to respond to an attack there. So, assemble a small strike force and circle around the Sea Gate using some old smuggling routes. They aren’t good for an entire battalion, but a small force should have no problems. Strike hard and fast at Frosta’s castle, catching them by surprise. Then, when the Alliance is drawn away from Bright Moon, move the bulk of our forces on Plumeria. We hold both kingdoms ransom, forcing Frosta and Perfuma to surrender, or at the very least divide their attentions. That would leave just Seleneas and Bright Moon, which would be a lot harder to deal with, with the Sea Gate and the Whispering Wood and all. Still, that way we should be able to keep the Princesses on the defensive at least long enough for Entrapta to finish whatever she’s cooking up with Hordak.” She grins brightly at Catra as if she hadn’t just laid out a seriously devious plan. Catra is impressed.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had it in you,” she jokes.

Scorpia blushes and waves off the compliment, rubbing the back of her neck with the other claw. “Oh, well, you know. I’ve always been good at the paper pushing stuff, you know, logistics and all that, but you taught me about tactics. You’re a genius with that stuff.”

Catra feels her cheeks heating up at the compliment. She furrows her brow and, to shift the topic of conversation, asks, “Why didn’t you say anything like that at the meeting? That plan could actually work, unlike what you told me about the others’.”

Scorpia shrugs in response. “No one asked.”

Catra isn’t sure how to respond to that. Her frown deepens as she realizes that she, and everyone else, has been underestimating Scorpia. She wonders if Scorpia’s really as innocent and friendly as she seems, or if it’s all some kind of front, put up by a mind far more complex than she gave her credit for. She’ll have to be more careful of Scorpia in the future, she muses.

 

Catra’s train of thought is interrupted by a loud crash from the corner of the room. She jumps, tail fluffing out, and then promptly falls off the bed as she’s unable to catch herself in her weakened state. From her vantage on the floor, she hears a loud and cheerful voice from the corner that the noise had come from.

“Hallo! I hope I’m not interrupting anything, were you talking to yourself?”

Catra hears Scorpia chuckle, “No, Entrapta, I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to Catra!” Catra feels her blood run cold. What does she think she’s doing??

The other voice is silent for a moment, then replies, “It is a common symptom of grief to hear the voices of the ones you lost, tell me, are you experiencing overwhelming grief that has led to an early onset of dementia?” Catra hears the voice moving closer to the bed, but oddly doesn’t hear any footsteps.

Scorpia laughs a full-bodied belly laugh. “I have no idea what that means, but you’re hilarious! No, I was talking to Catra! See?” Catra sees Scorpia lean over the back of the bed and reach down, ignoring her frantically shaking head. She wraps one muscular arm around Catra’s frame, easily lifting her up into view.

Catra at first isn’t quite sure what she’s seeing. Once she realizes that the thick purple trunks that are holding the figure up off the ground are hair, things make a little more sense.

Entrapta stares for a moment at Catra, mouth agape, before clicking the button on her recorder, which is already held at the ready. “Fright Zone log, continued. Catra… Catra is here.” Gently, Scorpia reaches out and touches the button to stop the recording. Entrapta shakes her head, and looks between Scorpia and Catra, look of confusion still on her face.

Scorpia smiles and raises a claw. “I’m sorry for not telling you earlier, but Catra is ok! Well, mostly. She has some memory problems and she can’t really walk well, but she’s alive, and not on Beast Island!”

“Yes, I can see that!” Entrapta replies, before launching herself forward until her face is directly in Catra’s.

“Personal space,” Catra mutters, but Entrapta ignores her.

“You experienced an advanced degree of asphyxiation, Scorpia you say her symptoms include memory loss and degraded motor function? That lines up with my understanding that the brain requires a large amount of oxygen to function, if I had to guess I’d say that due to a lack of oxygen a portion of the cells in your brain have died, however I’d have to open your skull up to be certain.” With that, she brandishes a scalpel and a small drill that Catra hadn’t seen her holding before. Catra is about to show this weirdo her own sharp objects when Scorpia intervenes.

“Now, now, what have we said about dissecting people?”

Entrapta appears to think for a moment, then says, “Not to do it unless they’re dead?”

“Or if they agree to it.” Scorpia smiles a patient smile and gently pushes the surgical implements down so they aren’t in Catra’s face. “Now then, did you have something to tell me or were you just coming to visit?”

A look of sudden recollection crosses Entrapta’s face. “Ooooh, that’s right! I wanted to tell you that I found something in the Horde database!”

Scorpia’s face turns to one of stunned confusion. “You mean about my family, about the Black Garnet? That was quick!”

Entrapta retreats, causing Catra to let out a sigh of relief, and nods. “I’ve been upgrading the data retrieval systems in my spare time; the search function now produces results almost instantaneously! Unfortunately, it took some time to find any relevant information, most of it appears to have been removed from the database, likely by Hordak himself, however I was able to find one thing.” She pulls a data pad from a pocket in her overalls, and fiddles with it for a moment before passing it over to Scorpia.

Scorpia takes it and her eyes scan the screen for a moment, before widening. “It says, ‘subject has been placed in sector 47B to await further investigation of the Black Garnet power source.’ What’s sector 47B?” She glances at Catra, who frowns.

“That’s a maximum-security cell block…”

“A cell block?!” Scorpia looks closer at the data pad’s screen. “This is dated to just after the Horde arrived in my family’s kingdom… You don’t think…” She looks at Catra and Entrapta, hope in her eyes.

“Could it be my mom?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh I'm excited for the next chapter! We'll be getting in to a wee bit of headcanon and also introducing an original character, which is fun! As always, I always appreciate comments and criticisms!


	9. Forgotten, Remembered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following a lead from Entrapta, Scorpia finds someone who may be able to tell her more about her past.

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on.” Catra interrupts, holding out a hand. “Can someone please just explain what is going on here? Who is she,” she points a long-nailed finger at Entrapta, “and what are you talking about? What do you have to do with the Black Garnet?” She cranes her neck around to look at Scorpia, twisting in the larger woman’s grip.

“Ah, yeah, I keep forgetting that you don’t remember things.” Scorpia smiles bashfully, and lays Catra against the headrest of the bed. “Ok, so, this is Entrapta. She’s our friend! Also, she’s a Princess.”

“Yeah I kind of got that from the whole magic hair thing,” Catra responds dryly.

“Actually, it’s science hair, not magic,” Entrapta explains. She appears at the side of the bed, holding one ponytail in both hands. “See? It’s real hair - you don’t want to know how long it took to grow it to this length – interwoven with a network of special filaments that, when acting in concert, allow free movement, only limited by my imagination! And, of course, the neural motivators in my headset,” she taps the metal on the back of her head which Catra had at first assumed was the strap for her welding mask. “Although, after studying Hordak’s cybernetics, I do have some ideas for an upgraded design…”

Catra blinks as the tide of words washes over her. At a lull in Entrapta’s monologue, she takes her chance to get a word in. “Ok, cool. So, you’re a Princess. If Scorpia trusts you, I guess I do, too. Not that I have much choice.” She glances at Scorpia, eyebrow raised. “That doesn’t answer what the hell you two were talking about, though.”

“Right! I was just getting to that. See, I’m also a Princess. The Fright Zone is built on top of where my family’s kingdom used to be. The Black Garnet was our runestone.”

“You… are also a Princess.” Catra glances from Scorpia to Entrapta, looking for any trace of a joke or a lie. When she sees none, she sighs, shaking her head. “Ok, great. So, before I lost my memory, I found the only two Princesses in the Horde and, what, made friends with them?” She groans and presses her palms into her eyelids. “What the hell.”

Scorpia chuckles and says, “Well, you convinced Entrapta to join up. She’s an amazing mechanic, and super smart!” Entrapta blushes and waves the complement away with the end of one ponytail. Scorpia continues, “You also didn’t know that I was a Princess at first. It only came up when we had to go to the Princess Ball to kidnap Adora’s friends.”

Catra opens her mouth to speak, but then closes it, looking thoughtful. She points at Scorpia, eyebrow raised. “You wore a dress, right? And… we blew up a castle.” Her brow furrows with the effort of trying to grab a memory that is rapidly slipping from her fingers.

Scorpia lets out a delighted squeal. “Yes! You remembered something!”

Entrapta retrieves her recorder and advances on Catra. “Fascinating… Do you recall any other details?” She clicks the button on the device and shoves it in Catra’s face.

Catra hisses and pushes it away. “I don’t know! Get that out of my face!”

Scorpia gently puts an arm between Entrapta and Catra. “Let’s not push it. Let’s just be happy that you remember something and hope that more comes back.” She smiles at Catra, who turns away, unable to look at the pathetic hope in her eyes.

“Yeah, whatever.” She draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms and tail around them. Scorpia shakes her head and turns back to Entrapta.

“Ok, Entrapta. You said that someone is being held in Sector 47B, right? Can you get me in there, secretly?”

“Oh certainly! It would be easiest if we were to utilize the ventilation ducts, but given your rather large size, that would perhaps be difficult…”

 

In the end, it was fairly easy for Scorpia to get in. At the next Force Captain meeting, Scorpia volunteered to manage guard shifts for the Fright Zone. Since this would leave the others free to pursue their own campaigns against the Princesses, this was agreed upon without much discussion. While Entrapta established remote control of the security cameras in that sector, Scorpia arranged shifts so that Lonnie’s team were in charge of guarding the block at the time that Scorpia wanted to get in. Within a month, Scorpia was standing on the lift, taking it down to the very bottom of the cylindrical cell block where, she hopes, she’ll finally get the answers that she’s been looking for.

 

Scorpia takes a deep breath through her nose and lets it out in a long sigh. She glances up towards the observation tower where she can just barely see the faces of Lonnie and her team and gives them a wave. It’s hard to tell, but she thinks that Rogelio waves back.

After what seems like an age, the lift comes to a halt. She steps off, on to the floor of the cell block, and glances around. Unlike other cell blocks across the Fright Zone, this one has reinforced blast doors instead of force fields across the front of each cell. She eyes the symbols on each door, and quickly finds the one that she wants.

A few steps, and she’s standing in front of the imposing cell door. She begins to reach towards the panel to open it up but hesitates. Her heart is bumping in her chest and she squeezes her eyes shut. Another deep breath, to try and calm her nerves, and she closes the last of the distance to the door control.

With an ominous clunk, the door unlocks, and then groans as it rises into the ceiling. As it vanishes, the familiar yellow-green force field springs into place, but Scorpia disables that, as well.

A shelf-like bed protrudes from the opposite wall of the cell, which is bare other than a utilitarian toilet. On the bed sits a figure, their face obscured by long, unkempt hair. The arms of their Horde prisoner uniform have been cut off, to make space for their armored shoulders and claws, once strong and spiked, now dotted with cracked stumps and crisscrossed with scars and burn marks. What catches her eye, however, is that they don’t have a tail like hers.

Scorpia feels her breath catch in her throat, and everything that she had been wanting to say falls to dust in her mind. The figure stirs, and looks up, sunken eyes boring into Scorpia’s.

“That tail…” Scorpia jumps at the cracked, defeated voice, so tired, yet so full of venom, even hatred. “I didn’t want to believe it, but here you are, there’s no doubt about it. The daughter of our Queen, proudly wearing the colors of those who murdered her.”

 

Scorpia feels the entire world fall away from her feet. She takes a few steps back, her eyes wide as she shakes her head, tries to conjure any words at all, but those eyes, those horrible eyes follow her. “No… she’s… she can’t be…”

The figure stands, revealing the figure of a man who was once strong, but long captivity as taken its toll, leaving his flesh hanging from his bones. Sores and scars cover his neck and shoulders where the collar that chains him to the wall with a glowing cord has rubbed the skin down. “It is, though. I watched that monster kill her with my own eyes.”

Scorpia keeps backing away until, finally, her back runs up against the central pillar of the block, leaving her with no more room to back away from those eyes. She shuts her own and shakes her head, trying to deny it. Her voice is weak as she says, “I didn’t know…”

He takes another step forward. “Don’t lie to me, Princess,” he spits the word like it leaves a sour taste in his mouth. “And don’t lie to yourself.”

Scorpia shakes her head again, but she can’t deny the truth in his words, as much as they hurt her. Why would the Horde have kept a Queen of a kingdom they conquered alive for so long? To hope otherwise had been childish. But then, why…

“Why... why not me? Why am I here?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper.

“Why haven’t you been killed? Because how else do you break a people’s spirit but to turn the daughter of our Queen into the very symbol of our oppression? The death of our Queen alone was not enough. Even that heartless monster knew that would only fill us with rage, and we would fight all the harder.” His chest puffs out, and his voice fills with a long-forgotten pride. He pauses a moment, and when he speaks again, his voice is cracked and painful. “But they took you! You, a babe in your mother’s arms. You, the shining jewel of our Kingdom. With the threat of harm to you, all but our most stout-hearted laid down their weapons. The rest were crushed, easily. And then they took you and made you into one of them!” His voice raises into a shout.

“I’m- I’m not…” Scorpia shakes her head again, trying to press her entire body into the wall behind her, but it’s no use.

“One of them? Don’t you dare say that to me. Where are your scars from fighting for your people? While you are off playing toy soldier, our people, people who loved your mother as their Queen, live and die underground, never again to see the light of the moons on the sands. You are not my Princess. You are a traitor.” He spits at Scorpia, who jumps as she feels it hit her cheek.

“Scorpia? You there? We’re running out of time. We got a patrol coming through real soon. You all done down there?” Scorpia jumps at the voice, but quickly realizes that it’s just Lonnie, talking to her through the communicator in her badge.

She wipes her cheek of the spit and, unable to meet the eyes still glaring at her from the cell across from her, taps the badge to respond, “Yeah. I’m… close the door.” The prisoner shakes his head, but his eyes no longer look angry. Instead, they look almost disappointed in her, which only hurts her soul more. As the door hisses shut, he turns his back to her, returning to his bed.

She squeezes her eyes shut again but, despite her best efforts, tears start to trickle down her cheeks. Her knees give out under her, dropping her to the floor, back still against the central pillar.

“Scorpia, come on. We gotta get ya outta here, otherwise there’ll be questions asked that none of us want to answer.”

Scorpia nods, even though Lonnie can’t see her, and bites her bottom lip. She slowly forces her legs underneath her again, rising to her feet. She stumbles over to the lift, which starts to rise towards the control center where Lonnie and her team are waiting. She doesn’t even last the relatively short trip, however, and her legs give out once again as her shoulders are wracked with heaving sobs. She crosses her arms across her stomach, trying in vain to get herself under control.

Once the lift arrives at its destination, Scorpia dimly hears Lonnie yelling, though at her or someone else she doesn’t know. She curls in on herself further, trying to cut herself off entirely from the world that she’s betrayed. Distantly, she feels herself being lifted off the ground by a pair of rough, scaly arms and hears grunting and panting in her ear, as if whoever it is is struggling.

Slowly, Scorpia drifts away into blessed darkness, leaving the world of pain behind her as she blacks out, and remembers no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Scorpia! XD  
> Sorry this isn't exactly a happy gift but it will get better eventually, I swear! Comments and criticism are as always, appreciated!  
> Also, thank you for 50 Kudos! It means so much to me that so many people like the fic!


	10. Hugs and Plots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia awakens, burdened with her new knowledge, but is given new determination.

Scorpia’s journey back to consciousness is long and difficult. She groans, her eyes still shut tight. She shifts, but a rustling noise causes her to pause. Where is she? Gently, she moves her arm, meeting a soft resistance, with more of that rustling, like the sound of cloth. What is that?

She tries to remember how she got there. She was going to talk to someone… Suddenly, the memory hits her like a speeding tank. The cell block, that man, those things he said to her… and then she blacked out. But that doesn’t make any sense. If she blacked out in the cell block, why didn’t she wake up on the hard floor? This feels like… a bed. Is she in her room?

With another groan, she realizes that she has to open her eyes at some point, so it may as well be now. She blearily blinks them open, revealing a blurry, fuzzy shadow above her. She hears a soft yelp and more rustling, and the shadow disappears, causing the ceiling lamp to shine directly into Scorpia’s eyes. She raises a claw to block the light, still blinking sleepily.

She pushes herself up into a sitting position and wipes her eyes with the inside of her bicep. She glances around. Yeah, this is her room. And there’s Catra, examining her nails and looking like she hasn’t even noticed that Scorpia’s awake.

Catra’s eyes drift over to Scorpia, and just for a second, Scorpia thinks she sees a glimmer of relief in her eyes, before the familiar steel doors slam shut. “Oh, hey. You’re awake.”

Scorpia nods. “Yeah.” She rotates herself, so her feet are on the floor, resting her elbows on her knees.

“How did the chat with whoever it was go?”

She shrugs in response, staring at the floor between her claws.

Catra blinks, brow furrowing. “You don’t sound as relentlessly cheerful as usual. Not that I’m complaining, but you’re kind of freaking me out.”

Scorpia shrugs again. Her chest feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, her throat has closed up.

Catra stares at Scorpia a moment, head cocked, before sighing and shaking her head. “I can’t believe I’m about to do this.” Scorpia doesn’t have time to question her before she feels a gentle weight on her back and a pair of narrow arms wrapped around her sides. Catra presses her face into Scorpia’s upper back and makes a low grumbling sound. Not a purr, but somehow, coming from Catra, just as comforting.

Scorpia feels an upwelling in her chest and doesn’t even have a moment to think about Catra hugging her voluntarily for the first time before it all comes pouring out. Tears start gushing down her face, accompanied by a broken cry of hurt. Massive sobs wrack her shoulders, bouncing Catra’s lithe frame up and down. Wordlessly, Scorpia drops her head into her claws as a tidal wave of confused feeling come pouring out of her in a flood of tears and snot.

Catra clings bravely to Scorpia’s back, riding out the storm as best she can while awkwardly making attempts at soothing noises that fall on mostly deaf ears.

 

Gradually, Scorpia’s tears subside, turning instead into a series of hiccups and sniffles. Catra cautiously lets go of Scorpia’s back and, holding one hand on her shoulder to support herself, moves around Scorpia so that she’s sitting next to her.

“So, I take it, it didn’t go so well?” Catra asks with a slight attempt at a joking tone. When Scorpia looks like she’s about to break down crying again, she raises her free hand, a panicked look on her face. “Hey, hey, hey, easy there. It was just a joke.”

Scorpia takes a deep breath, trying to bring the sniffles under control. She wipes her face with her arm, but all that succeeds in doing is mixing the tears, mascara, and snot into a horribly ugly mixture. She nods, then takes another steadying breath before replying, “yeah. It didn’t go well.”

Catra is silent, patiently waiting for Scorpia to continue. Unconsciously, her tail encounters Scorpia’s and softly wraps itself around it.

After a long silence, Scorpia, says, “it wasn’t my mom. But… I think maybe he knew her, you know, before. Before the Horde. Before they murdered her.” Catra’s eyes narrow, but she stays silent. Scorpia continues, “he was angry with me. Said that I was a traitor. That my people, my mother’s people, are slaves of the Horde and I haven’t done anything to help them.” She shrugs her shoulders up and buries her face in her arms. When she speaks again, its muffled. “And he’s right.”

Catra frowns, taking it all in. Suddenly, she says, “so what are you going to do about it?”

Scorpia looks up at her. “What?”

Catra rolls her eyes. “You heard me. The Horde is bad. What a shocking reveal, right?” She chuckles softly under her breath, shaking her head. She raises an eyebrow and continues, “Are you just going to sit here and mope about it?”

Scorpia’s eyes are wide. She’s too mystified to remember to be sad any more as she responds, “What could I do?”

Catra shrugs languidly. “Well, you could just ignore him. But you don’t really seem like the kind of girl who can just do that. Nah, you care about what people say.” She bares her teeth in a way that seems to say, ‘unlike me.’

Scorpia frowns. “Well, what do you do? When people upset you. I mean, how did you survive Shadow Weaver for so long?”

Catra’s smile drops. She turns away from Scorpia, looking off into the distance, and shrugs. “I dunno. I guess, I just told myself that it wouldn’t always be like that, you know? That someday, we- I, would be on top, and no one would ever mess with me again.”

Scorpia’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s it!” She leaps to her feet, sending Catra sprawling on the bed. “Wildcat, you’re a genius!” She scoops her up into a bear hug, swinging her around the room, caught up in this new wave of emotion. She gently places Catra back down on the bed and then dashes off, wiping her face vigorously.

When she reaches her door, she turns back towards Catra, the mess on her face mostly gone now, replaced by a wide smile. “Thank you so much!” she says, as she opens the door and runs out into the hall.

Catra puts on a half-smile and waves, but her face falls again as soon as Scorpia is out of sight. She falls back into the pillows and stares at the ceiling. “Someday, we’ll be calling the shots…” she murmurs to the empty room.

 

“You wanna WHAT?!”

Scorpia shushes Lonnie and pushes her into a corner, glancing around nervously. She had caught her just as she was about to go in for lunch in the mess hall. She sighs and repeats, “I need your help to get rid of Hordak. For good.”

Lonnie shakes her head. “I knew you were stupid but this… This is somethin’ special.” She tries to push past Scorpia, who blocks her with an outstretched claw.

“Look, just hear me out, ok?” She puts on her best puppy-dog eyes.

Lonnie groans and rubs her forehead with her hand. “Look, I didn’t tell anyone about Catra, but I ain’t goin’ along with this… this… craziness!”

“Look, I know you hate the Horde too…”

“One, stop puttin’ words in my mouth, and two, even if I did, I ain’t crazy enough to go up against Hordak. That’s just suicidal.”

Scorpia grabs Lonnie’s shoulders and looks her directly in the eyes. “Just… listen. Ok? You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to agree. If you want, as soon as I’m done, you can go find another Force Captain and rat me out, whatever you want, ok? Just, listen.”

Lonnie frowns, then sighs, and nods. “Make it quick.”

Scorpia breaths a sigh of relief, smiling. “Thank you.” She glances around again, making sure that no one is watching or listening, then starts with, “You want to protect Kyle and Rogelio, right?”

Lonnie cautiously nods.

“Ok. But, just like me, you know that you can’t do that forever. Someday, maybe soon, they’ll get hurt, or they’ll die, and there will be nothing you can do.”

“Not exactly fillin’ me with confidence, here…”

“No, ok, just listen. There’s a limit to how much you can protect them, right? You say that’s just the way things are. But what if they were different? If Hordak was gone, things could be different. You could make sure that they’re always safe.”

Lonnie raises an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t explain how you’re gonna get rid of Hordak, the single most powerful guy on the planet.”

“That’s why I need your help. You’re amazing, you’re cool under pressure, you’re smart, you’re an amazing leader. I have the start of a plan, but it’s not enough. I think you might be just who I need to fill in the details.”

Lonnie blushes under the barrage of compliments, but still looks uncertain. Scorpia shakes her head.

“I understand if you’re not sure. But… I’m asking you to trust me. You don’t have to give an answer now. You have a free shift next week, right? Just… come to my room, then. If you want to hear me out. If not… do whatever you want.” She smiles at Lonnie and lets go of her shoulders before turning and walking away, down the way she came.

That’s one down. At least, she hopes. That just leaves Entrapta, but who knows how to find her. She’ll just have to hope that she pops up in the next week.

Scorpia’s trail of thought is interrupted by heavy footfalls behind her, and a voice.

“I never expected to hear sssuch treasonous thoughts from you, Ssscorpia…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, my girl gets a little bit of softness! It doesn't last long, though. Let me know what you thought! I'm going to try and speed up how fast I put up new chapters, to try and finish this before season 3 drops, so stay tuned!


	11. Cuts and Bandages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When another Force Captain overhears Scorpia's plans, how far will she go to keep Catra safe?

Scorpia feels chills run up her spine at the sound of that voice. This isn’t quite the worst-case scenario, but it’s close.

“Hithar,” Scorpia responds evenly, back still to the voice. Her tail curls slightly, preparing to strike. One good hit is all she would need, but a miss would spell disaster. Better play dumb for now. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Scorpia hears a hissing chuckle. “No, I’m ssssure you don’t. If that’s ssso, you wouldn’t mind coming with me to have a… chat, with Lord Hordak, now would you?”

Scorpia’s blood runs cold. She swallows, turning towards the voice and asking with a careful look of ignorance, “What kind of talk?” She examines the other Force Captain evenly. Tall, taller then Scorpia, but lanky, the lizard-man is the only one of the Force Captains that Scorpia knows who seems to never take his standard-issue Horde armor off. She’s never even seen his face.

Hithar stands in a relaxed pose, arms folded, just outside of range of Scorpia’s tail. He raises one clawed finger to tap the visor of his helmet, his own powerful tail swaying side to side, like a snake preparing to strike. “Ssssss… Don’t play dumb. I… overheard your conversation with that cadet.”

Scorpia frowns. “You were spying, you mean. On me?”

The other Force Captain shrugs, no doubt showing off a grin full of sharp teeth behind his darkened visor. “You have been acting sssstrangely. Octavia and Grizzlor… they are too busy foolishly trying to outdo each other to notice, but I… am a hunter. And a hunter watches patiently for his chance to sssstrike.”

Scorpia’s eyes narrow. She is silent for a moment, desperately searching for a way out of this situation, before closing her eyes and shrugging in defeat. “Well, I guess you got me, huh? Take me to Hordak, then.” She holds out her arms, as if to allow herself to be cuffed.

Hithar hisses in satisfaction and takes a step forward, but then pauses. “This isssss too easy…”

Scorpia’s eyes grow wide and innocent. “I have no idea what you mean! You got me, fair and square. I’ll come quietly. I’ll even tell you where I’ve hidden Catra.”

Even though she can’t see his face, Scorpia can tell his surprise at the way his stance changes. He leans forward on his toes, as if being drawn in towards her. “You… you have hidden her ssssomewhere? She is not on Beast Island?” That definitely got his attention. He takes a step forward, and Scorpia eyes his feet. Come on, just a little closer, just a little…

With a flash of red, Scorpia’s tail whips around her body and towards Hithar, aiming towards the weak point in his armor between the breastplate and the helmet. Her venom should be enough to knock him unconscious, and then… well, she’ll have time to figure out what to do with him.

Smoothly, Hithar dodges backwards, leaving Scorpia’s stinger to sail harmlessly past him. The motion is so quick, it takes her brain a moment to register what happened. A moment in which he turns and starts running down the corridor.

Scorpia curses under her breath and thunders after him. Now her only hope is to try and catch him before he can get help. Unfortunately, as strong as she is, he’s faster. With that, and his head start, he quickly creates a fair distance between them. He disappears around a corner and Scorpia races after him.

She rounds the corner at full tilt, and barrels down the hallway beyond, but she can’t see any sign of Hithar. Right as she starts to slow, thinking that maybe she can get to Catra and get them both out before he can reach Hordak, she feels something wrap around her ankle, tripping her up and sending her crashing to the floor.

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall…” a murmured chuckle causes her to twist her neck to look behind her. Hithar stands in the shadow of a doorway, tail still outstretched. He stalks over to her and grabs her hair, cruelly yanking her head around to whisper in her ear. “You will tell me where Catra issss, now. If I bring both of you in, myself… Hordak will be mossst pleased.”

Scorpia grunts, pain bringing tears to the corners of her eyes. When he mentions Catra, however, new determination springs to life in her chest. “I won’t let… you, or Hordak… hurt her!”

Hithar lets out a hissing chuckle that turns into a surprised yelp as Scorpia jerks her head, slamming her skull into his. She hears a sharp ringing noise as he lets go of her in surprise, and she pulls away from him, scrambling to her feet and shaking off the resultant headache.

Hithar clutches his face as he stumbles backward, growling obscenities. The visor of his helmet has been shattered, sending jagged shards slicing inwards. He drops his hand, revealing that, miraculously, one of his eyes survived, though the other is a bloody mess. “You will pay for that,” he snarls, as he leaps towards Scorpia, taloned hands outstretched.

Scorpia pulls backwards, throwing her arms up to protect her face. His talons rake harmlessly against her exoskeleton, but he jumps back before she can retaliate. He drops into a ready stance, obviously tensed to leap in any direction.

Scorpia widens her own stance, arms still up in a defensive pose. She has to end this, quickly, before someone comes down this corridor. But how…?

She blinks, shaking her head again to try and drive off the aftereffects of her headbutt. At that moment, he attacks, leaping in to rake his claws along her right thigh before dancing away again, just as quickly. She sucks in a breath but doesn’t take her eyes off of him to check on the wound.

It only took a moment for him to spot her vulnerability and exploit it, before moving back out of her reach. Somehow, she had to get him close to her, otherwise he’ll just keep wearing her down. A hunter, who waits for an opportunity to strike…

Scorpia shifts her posture slightly, taking her weight off her wounded leg, keeping her arms high to protect her face. In a flash, Hithar dashes in again, this time digging his claws into her side and opening up several new scarlet gashes.

But Scorpia is ready for him. Suddenly, she twists towards him, hissing as the movement puts more pressure on her wounded leg, and brings both arms down on his back, hard. He lets out a gasp as the blow drives the air from his lungs, sending him to the floor. Scorpia wastes no time, and reaches down to grab him, not giving him a chance to recover. She lifts him easily in one claw and slams him into the wall, holding him by the throat.

“You’ve lost,” she tells him. He lets out a hissing gurgle, and it takes a moment for Scorpia to realize that he is laughing at her. ‘What’s so funny?” she demands.

“No… You have lost, Ssssscorpia. You… will die… alone. No one… can fight Lord Hordak…” He continues laughing.

She scowls and presses harder, turning his laugh into a pained squeak. “You’re wrong.”

“Am… I?” He grins at her. She makes a low growling noise, deep in her throat, and squeezes down on his neck. With a crunch, the scales of his neck finally give out, causing blood to well up around her claw. Startled, she pulls back, letting him collapse to the floor.

Horrified, she looks from the blood on her claw, back to Hithar. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…” He gives her no response other than a low gurgle before flopping forward on to his face and going still.

Scorpia stares a moment, too stunned to know what to do. It’s not that she hadn’t killed before. Everyone has, in the Horde. It’s a part of life. But before, she had known what she was doing. She was in control. This time… she lost control. She was angry. No, not angry.

Afraid.

The sound of voices startles her out of her thoughts. She can’t be seen here, bloody-clawed, over the body of a fellow Force Captain. Clutching her side, she limps away as fast as possible away from the voices, only stopping once she’s around the corner, out of sight.

She leans against the wall to rest a moment as, behind her, she hears the group shout and begin to run. They’ve seen him. It’s time to go. She pushes off from the wall again and keeps going, occasionally using one claw against the wall to steady herself.

 

Catra is busy staring at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts, when she hears the door to Scorpia’s room slide open. She wipes her eyes and pushes herself into a seated position, leaning against the headboard. She’s getting stronger, but nowhere near fast enough. She can still barely sit up or stand on her own.

Scorpia is standing in the entranceway, leaning against the wall and clutching her side. Catra’s ears flatten as the scent of blood reaches her. “You’re hurt.”

Scorpia waves a claw at her, twisting her face in a vague approximation of a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. It’s no big deal.” She stumbles into the room and sits heavily on the edge of the bed.

Catra’s eyes narrow in obvious disbelief, but she shrugs. If that’s how she’s going to be, then Catra won’t try to offer her concern. She can’t help but glance at Scorpia every few seconds, though.

Scorpia sits on the bed for a few moments, catching her breath, before hauling herself to her feet. She stumbles into the bathroom. A few moments of searching later, she returns with a small first aid kit held in one claw. Catra eyes her as she sits back down and opens the kit, rifling through its contents. She pulls out a roll of bandages and fumbles with it for a moment before dropping it.

Catra sighs and shakes her head. “Here. Let me.” She reaches over and picks the roll up and, with deft fingers, starts to unroll it. She glances back towards Scorpia, eyebrow raised. “Well? I can’t exactly bandage it over your shirt, can I?”

“Oh! Uh, ok…” Scorpia had been watching the movement of Catra’s fingers without paying attention. She blushes furiously and hurriedly pulls her top off over her head, carefully maneuvering so that it doesn’t get stuck on her shoulder spikes, leaving her in a sports bra. Catra beckons her over, and she shifts over so that she is within Catra’s reach.

“This looks pretty bad,” Catra observes as she starts wrapping Scorpia’s side with the bandage. “What happened?”

Scorpia sucks in a breath as Catra’s fingers brush the ragged edges of her wound. “Hithar. He found out that I’m planning to try and get rid of Hordak. But I... I dealt with him.”

Catra stops, eyes wide. “Did I just hear you right? You’re going after Hordak?”

Scorpia grins brightly. “Yeah! I figured, it’s the only way to make sure he can’t hurt you, or anyone else, ever again, right?”

Catra nods, thoughtfully. She continues bandaging Scorpia in silence for a moment, before her hands go still again. “So, what. You take over, become a princess or whatever?”

Scorpia thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but yeah, I guess.”

Catra scoffs. “Great. Good for you.” She pulls on the bandage, wrapping it tight, causing Scorpia to gasp.

“Ow! Hey, what’s wrong?” Catra glowers, not responding. Scorpia places her claws on Catra’s hands, stopping her. “Wildcat, tell me what’s wrong.”

Catra looks away, still scowling. She sulks a moment, and Scorpia watches her, silently. Finally, Catra murmurs, “you’re just going to leave me, too.”

Scorpia frowns. “Of course I won’t. Why would you think that?”

“Because that’s what people do. They leave. They become Princesses.” Catra looks away again, waiting for Scorpia to respond. Suddenly, she feels Scorpia wrap her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

“I won’t ever leave you, I promise. I… I need you. Before I met you, I was… I was alone. I don’t want to be alone again.” The hug tightens. Catra sighs, and looks up at Scorpia’s face. To her surprise, Scorpia is crying.

“Hey. Hey, don’t do that. Don’t cry on me again,” she half-jokes, but there is concern in her voice. “You’re not alone.”

Scorpia’s eyes open. “Neither are you, Wildcat.” Catra blushes and looks down again.

“Come on, let go of me. I’m not done bandaging you up. Plus, that leg looks like it needs some work, too.” Scorpia nods, and reluctantly lets go of Catra. Catra gets back to work, perhaps a little more carefully than before. The pair are silent for a long while.

Finally, Catra breaks the silence with, “So, what’s you’re master plan to overthrow an evil dictator?” She smiles, eyebrow raised at Scorpia.

Scorpia smiles back. “I’m still working on it! But, I asked Lonnie to come over next week so that we can work on a real plan.”

Catra nods absently before what Scorpia said finally registers. “Wait… You did what?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this one took longer than I had been hoping. Writing my first action scene, pretty much ever, was much more difficult than I anticipated! Please tell me what you think, I'm sure I can improve it a lot.


	12. Coincidence, Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word gets out about Scorpia's battle to the death, and someone comes knocking on her door...

“Wait… You did what?!”

Scorpia smiles placatingly at Catra. “I know you don’t like her very much, but I think she’s trustworthy. Plus,” she shrugs, “she cares a lot, even if she doesn’t show it. We need more of that. It’s the only way we can actually get this to work.”

Catra frowns. “How can you be sure?”

“Because I care about you and look,” her smile broadens, honestly, “you’re safe, and healthy, more or less, right under Hordak’s nose!”

Catra blushes and looks away. “You really are a Princess, huh.”

Before Scorpia can ask what she means, there is a noise from the doorway. They both look over, surprised, as Lonnie comes rushing in, panting and sweating. “Scorpia! They jus’ found Hithar with his throat cut! They’re saying there’s a rebel assassin sneakin’ around and I…” Her brain finally catches up to what she’s seeing, and her mouth twists into a smirk. “Is this a bad time?”

Scorpia is confused, but Catra hisses, “get your mind out of the gutter! I was just bandaging her up.” Scorpia glances down at her, still confused, before finally realizing that she is alone in bed with Catra, shirtless. Her cheeks turn bright crimson.

“Oh- ah, yeah! She was just… bandaging me. See, Hithar kind of got me…”

Lonnie nods, still smirking. “Right. Sure.” She closes the door and comes further into the room, leaning against the wall across from Catra and Scorpia.

Catra glares at her and asks, “what are you doing here, anyway?”

“I jus’ said. Hithar’s been found, dead. But It sounds like you already knew that?” She directs the question at Scorpia, who nods.

“He overheard me talking to you. We fought… I didn’t mean to kill him, though…” Catra must have heard the undertones in her voice, because she places a long-fingered hand on Scorpia’s shoulder.

“Sounds like you didn’t have much choice,” she observes. When the only response is a shrug, she frowns, but doesn’t press her. She looks back to Lonnie. “So. Scorpia told you about her hairbrained scheme to get rid of Hordak?”

Lonnie nods. “It wasn’t much of a scheme when she talked to me. More like a load of…” At a warning look from Catra, she abruptly shifts over to, “but I guess I’m here, now, so I’ll hear you out.”

Scorpia looks up, smiling gratefully, but says, “I was actually hoping for one more person…”

Lonnie’s face shows her confusion as she asks, “who?”

As if in response, there is a sudden metallic clang, followed by a rustle, and a thump. Scorpia turns, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “There she is.”

Entrapta is on the floor beneath an open vent, gently rubbing her rear. She flips her visor up and looks at Scorpia. “Oh! Were you expecting me? How peculiar, I don’t believe I told anyone of my destination, are you in possession of precognitive abilities that have thus far not been revealed?”

Scorpia blinks. “Precog… what? No, I wasn’t expecting you. I mean, not really. I wanted to talk to you, though!” A thought seems to occur to her. “Why are you here, right now, though? I was going to ask you to come over, but I haven’t seen you recently…”

Entrapta pushes herself off the floor with her hair, legs still crossed over each other. “Well, while I was working on upgrading a power junction, I happened to look over and see you, bloody and limping! I wanted to ensure that you were still alive, or, barring that, perform a speculative dissection on your fascinating biology, but I had to finish my work first, which is why I did not arrive sooner!” She pauses, an unusual look on her face. Her visor flips down, so her voice is slightly muffled when she continues, “I am… glad that an autopsy is not necessary.”

A brief stunned look on Scorpia’s face is replaced by a soft, genuine smile. Though it sounds odd to most people, she knows that, for Entrapta, those few words carry a lot of emotion that she finds hard to express. “Thanks.”

Entrapta nods, but remains unusually silent. Lonnie, however, does not.

“Ok, now that we’re done with whatever that was, who is she? How long have we had a purple-haired… girl watching us from the vents?”

Scorpia smacks her forehead. “That’s right! You two haven’t met! Lonnie, this is Entrapta. She’s my friend, but also a Princess, and also a mechanic, and she’s been working for the Horde for… two or three months, I think. Entrapta, this is Lonnie. She’s a cadet, and also my friend!” She beams at the two of them.

Lonnie eyes Entrapta warily. “A princess, huh?” She glances at Scorpia, and sighs. “Nice to meet ya.”

Entrapta pads forward on her hair until she is directly in front of Lonnie. She flips her visor up and smiles. “It’s nice to meet you, too! You’re the leader of the large reptilian and the small, thin one, correct? I’ve seen you and Scorpia sent out on missions together.”

“Give her some space, Entrapta.” Scorpia’s voice has no trace of reprimand. She just knows that Entrapta’s unique blend of lack of personal space and dislike of being touched can get some getting used to. Luckily for Lonnie, Entrapta listens and backs away a few paces.

While all of this has been going on, Catra had busied herself with continuing to bind the gashes on Scorpia’s side. At this point, she tears the bandage off and ties the end, checking to make sure that it’s snug but not too tight. “Great, so now that introductions are all done, can we get back to business?”

Entrapta glances over, curiously. “Business?”

Scorpia nods. “Thank you for reminding me. I actually wanted to talk to you all, together.” She turns towards Entrapta. “I want to get rid of Hordak. And I would like your help to do it.”

 

Entrapta is silent for a moment, mind racing. But that’s nothing new. Her brain is always humming, processing information as thoughts and ideas surface before vanishing, only to be replaced. Some people might find it difficult to handle, but it suits her. When she’s not focused on a task, the constant rush helps her find something new to focus on. When she is, it allows her to find new avenues to pursue to reach her goal.

But now, she isn’t focused on some technical problem. This is something infinitely more complicated.

Scorpia wants to get rid of -euphemism for ‘kill’- Hordak. At first this seems inconsistent with Entrapta’s observations of her, but further examination proves that this is not the case. After all, Hordak did seriously injure Catra, who Scorpia has been very protective of in the past.

That, in itself, is an important consideration. While the feline can be rude, others have called Entrapta the same. In addition, the opportunities for furthering her work in the Horde are primarily due to Catra. It is unclear, however, what Catra’s feelings about Entrapta are, especially given her recent asphyxiation-related amnesia.

On that same line of logic, Hordak is Entrapta’s first lab partner. He listens to her theories. Though, he seems reluctant to offer her vary much of his own knowledge, when she has shared much of her notes about the First Ones. This seems to not be proper lab partner behavior. Plus, he has attempted to limit her work in areas other than upgrading the power grid of the Fright Zone. Luckily for her, the schedule he demands of her is well within her abilities, giving her much free time to do as she wishes. Truthfully, her primary interest in him is as an access to new information and experimental data.

That is an interesting thought. Every scientist must keep notes on their experiments somewhere, correct? Though he is, at best, a lackluster scientist, he must still have some notes, somewhere. And there are a number of locked files in the Horde’s computer systems. Without him interfering, it will likely be very possible to access those files.

Finally, she looks at Scorpia. This one confuses her. She is not a scientist. She is the opposite. She lives her life emotionally, rather than rationally. But still, she is one of the few who seems to enjoy Entrapta’s presence. She bakes tiny foods for her. Plus, somehow, Entrapta feels… safe, around her. She has attempted to analyze the feeling, but has been unable to determine the cause. Without Entrapta’s help, Scorpia might die. She finds that she does not want that.

Because he hurt Catra, because he may kill Scorpia, because he has limited her own research more than aided it, she will help them kill Hordak. Satisfied with that line of reasoning, Entrapta nods. “I’ll help you.”

 

Scorpia blinks, surprised at the, to her, very quick deliberation. Her look of surprise quickly shifts into a smile, however. “Really? That’s great! I’m so happy to have you on board!” She would leap up and hug Entrapta, but that is definitely not something to spring on her.

Lonnie clears her throat. “I still think you’re all crazy. Do you even have a plan, or are you just going to go against the most powerful man on Etheria completely blind?”

Scorpia’s smile doesn’t falter. “I’ve been thinking about that, actually. I have the start of a plan, but I need some help from you three to flesh it out…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one today! With only two weeks left, I hope I can finish before s3 drops! Thanks for reading, and as always, comments are appreciated.


	13. Meetings and Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With her friends assembled, Scorpia puts her plan into action. Everyone has a part to play, but Scorpia must face her fears if the plan is to be successful.

“That went well,” Catra observes as the door slides shut behind Lonnie. Entrapta has already left the way she came: through the air ducts and without warning.

Scorpia nods, and shoots Catra a small smile. “Yeah. Better than I expected, actually.”

“I’m surprised Lonnie was so…”

“So what?” Scorpia asks.

Catra shrugs. “Receptive. I expected her to just call us all crazy and leave.”

“She did call us crazy a couple times.”

Catra chuckles. “Yeah, she did.”

“I’m not really surprised, though. She puts up a tough face, but she cares. She’s willing to do pretty much anything for Kyle and Rogelio. To protect them.” She glances at Catra.

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Catra meets her gaze evenly. “I don’t know how, but you have a way of getting people to do what you want. It’s impressive.” She matches Scorpia’s smile with a lopsided grin of her own.

Scorpia looks away, blushing. “Aw, thanks. But it’s not really that interesting. People just like me, I guess!”

Catra snorts. “That puts it mildly. You just got a scatterbrained geek, an irritating tryhard, and me to agree to work together. That’s a minor miracle.” She turns away and is silent a moment before her smile fades. “Those two are easy. You’re the one I can’t figure out.”

Scorpia looks down at Catra, concern written on her face. “What do you mean?”

Catra shrugs and pulls her legs up to her chest. “I guess I mean, what’s in all this for you? You don’t exactly strike me as the ambitious type. But if this works…” She holds out three fingers, folding them back in as she goes down a list. “Lonnie isn’t exactly well-known or popular, Entrapta is… Entrapta, and I’m hated by basically everyone other than, like, you. That means that, after this is all over, if everything goes well, you’re probably going to be in charge. But you aren’t the kind of gal who wants that. So why go through all this trouble?”

Scorpia is silent for a long moment, collecting her thoughts. Catra stares at her, tail flicking occasionally, until she finally speaks. “To be honest… The right answer would probably be ‘for my family.’ The Horde… they did some horrible things, and then they lied to me for my entire life. That’s more than enough reason, for some people. But that would be lying. The truth is… The truth is, I’m doing this for you.” Scorpia meets Catra’s eyes, an intensity in them that Catra hasn’t seen before. “Hordak hurt you. Almost killed you. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I’m doing this to… to hurt him, like he hurt you. To make sure that neither him or anyone else can hurt you again. And, well…” She looks away again, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m not really ambitious, but you are. And I thought, maybe, we could both be in charge…?”

Catra stares at her, dumbfounded for a moment. Slowly a blush rises in her cheeks and she blinks a couple of times. “That might be… the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Neither of them are sure what to say after that, and silence falls between them.

Eventually Catra blinks and shakes her head. “Come on. Enough sappy stuff. Take your pants off, let me see that leg.” She glances at Scorpia’s face and scowls. “If you make this weird, I’ll give you a few extra scars.”

Scorpia, struggling not to giggle, nods and says, “whatever you say.”

 

A few days later…

 

Lonnie wanders the mess hall, holding her tray in front of her, but not really paying attention to the food on it. All around her, cadets and soldiers alike gossip up a storm, rumors and hearsay flying to and fro. In theory, officers are supposed to keep this sort of thing from spreading, but they are just as engaged in it as everyone else. They all are asking the exact same question.

Who killed Hithar?

It’s a sensation. Nothing like this has happened, ever. A Force Captain found dead in the Fright Zone is inconceivable. Executed for treason or neglect of duty, sure. Death on the battlefield is pretty much expected. But this is new, and when new things happen…

Change often isn’t far behind.

Lonnie scans the room nonchalantly. The first part of Scorpia’s plan is pretty simple, basically no risk involved. It couldn’t hurt, just to give it a try. Might even be kind of fun.

She selects a table at random and sets her tray down. The group already sitting there glances her way, but quickly turn back to their conversation.

“There’s no way it’s true, right? Force Captains don’t just drop dead like that.”

“The way I heard it, he had his face smashed in and then his throat sliced open. There was blood on his hands, too. It was definitely a fight.”

“Who the hell would pick a fight with a Force Captain?”

“I bet it was another Force Captain. Get rid of the competition, so to speak.”

That’s a little to close for comfort. Time to redirect the conversation.

“I heard he offed himself. Couldn’t take the pressure.” At Lonnie’s sudden interjection, the rest of the group look her way. She keeps her expression neutral.

“What, he just tore his own throat open? No way.”

Lonnie shrugs. “Then where’s the other guy, huh? You said he had blood on his hands. Why wasn’t the other guy bleedin’ out on the floor next to him?”

The group glances at each other, silent in thought for a moment. Finally, one speaks up, “he always was kinda weird. I mean, he never took off that helmet of his, right? No way someone like that’s right in the head.”

This sets off another bout of argument. Lonnie smiles to herself. Her work here is done. They don’t even notice as she stands and walks away from their table.

And so it goes. She makes her way through the mess hall, inserting herself into groups, dropping lies and rumors like seed into fertile ground. Everywhere she goes, discussions become more heated, and doubt creeps up around the edges of the Horde’s ironclad training and conditioning.

“…a cadet got tired of Hithar hitting him, and hit back for once, with a dozen of his friends...”

“…a new princess is sneaking around who can turn herself invisible…”

“…a robot went berserk and is still on the loose, but Hordak is hushing it up…”

“…Shadow Weaver’s ghost is haunting the Fright Zone…”

Lonnie glances around the mess hall, listening to her handiwork. Gossip spreads fast in the Fright Zone. Before long, half the Fright Zone will have heard at least one of her bogus rumors, and most will have heard two. As long as the issue is confused like that, Scorpia should be safe, for now. Unfortunately, that means she just protected Catra, too, but it can’t be helped.

Her eyes land on one last table. This one is all cadets, skinny and terrified. They remind her a little of Kyle, and not in a good way, if there even is a good way that one can be reminded of Kyle. Interestingly, their conversation is in hushed tones, unlike the rest of the hall which seem to be trying to see who can win the prize for ‘loudest sound on Etheria.’

Briefly, she considers leaving it at that. She’s done what Scorpia asked her to do. Well, there was that other thing, but she had put her foot down about that. There’s no way she’s sticking her neck out like that.

She turns to leave the mess hall and eat her meal somewhere that doesn’t sound like a battle in a munition’s factory, but she glances back over her shoulder. Unbidden, the image of Scorpia’s face, openly and honestly asking for her help, comes to mind. She shakes her head to try and get rid of it, but it won’t budge. She grumbles for a moment, wrestling with the tiny Scorpia in her head, before groaning and turning back around on her heel. She walks over to the table of cadets and places her tray down, leaning in conspiratorially.

“Have you kids heard about the Cat’s Claw?”

 

Entrapta pulls her head out of the inside of the robot, wiping the sweat from her brow with an oily cloth. She shuts the access panel with a strand of hair and taps the chassis with one hand, causing the spherical shape to shudder back to life. Other than a brief flash of purple in the eye of the bot before it is replaced by the standard crimson glow, there is no indication that it had ever been tampered with as it trundles off down the hall.

Another strand of hair pulls something from a pocket of her overalls and brings it to eye level for inspection. As expected, a purple dot flashes on the small, glowing map of the Fright Zone. Elsewhere, a dozen other dots move along their programmed patrol routes in a ballet of mechanical perfection that few other people on Etheria seem to appreciate.

Entrapta glances at the readings from each of the bots, lined up on one side of the screen. The devices appear to be working as intended, but unfortunately, it’s impossible to do a proper test of the system without raising suspicion. While she is confident in her engineering, combining First Ones tech, Horde tech, and a few advancements of her own into such a small package can be… explosive, to say the least. Normally, she would not be discouraged by an explosive reaction, but there is only one chance to get this right.

If it doesn’t work, she may very well lose the only people on Etheria who make her feel truly at home.

She dismisses those thoughts, turning back to the work at hand, instead. With practiced ease, she slips into a nearby ventilation grate, closing it neatly behind her with a tendril of hair. Using both arms and legs and her twin pigtails, she is able to move easily and quickly through the narrow vents, arriving at her next destination in less than half the time it would have taken to walk through the hallways.

She glances out of another wall grate, spotting a bot in the hallway beyond. Excellent. The schedule was correct. She hates when things are inefficient or incorrect. It feels like an itch at the back of her brain that she can’t scratch until everything works like it should.

She opens the grate and drops to the floor with a clunk. The bot spins to face her, twirping mechanically, but quickly identifies her as a friendly, and stands down. As it turns back to resume its patrol path, Entrapta moves up behind it.

“Sorry friend, but I have to get inside your brain,” she says as she places a small device on the robot’s outer surface. The sound of crackling electricity makes Entrapta’s hairs stand on end as the device shuts the bot down while at the same time masking the shutdown from the master control system. The bot lets out a long, sad hum as the glow in its eye fades and its legs slide outwards, causing the body to land heavily on the floor.

Entrapta quickly finds the access hatch and uses her hair to pry it open while using her hands to rifle through a soot-stained bag over her shoulder.

Among half a dozen devices identical to the one she placed in the earlier robot, there is something else. She gently picks it out and holds it to the light, inspecting for any damage.

At first glance it appears to be a First Ones data crystal, but first glances are deceiving. A second glance will show that the crystal has been heavily altered with a wireless receiver and multiple neural linkages, similar in design to the ones she uses to control her hair, but very different in function. She hasn’t told Scorpia about this particular beauty, mainly because she isn’t sure that it will do what she wants it to. If it does work, though, they might not need anything else to accomplish their goal.

But that’s a big if. And scientists are nothing if not thorough. All possible precautions should be taken, just like any other experiment. She places the device back in her bag. After she’s done making the modifications to the robots, she’ll have to return to Hordak’s lab to install it.

Speaking of which, she grabs one of the other, smaller devices and leans into the open access hatch. She finds the correct linkage and uses the tools mounted on her headgear to cut a couple cables before soldering the new component into place. She climbs back out and shuts the hatch, pausing a moment to check that everything is functioning properly before going off in search of the next one.

 

Scorpia lets out a deep sigh, rolling her shoulders to try and relieve the tension that has built up in her upper back. She stands outside a large door, glancing every so often at a special timer that she had persuaded Entrapta to make for her. Based on the schedule that Entrapta gave her, she still has a few more minutes to wait.

She checks the device at her hip: a portable power source, along with a cable, also from Entrapta. Scorpia smiles to herself. As far as she’s concerned, Entrapta’s pretty much the smartest person on Etheria. Other than, maybe, her Wildcat.

What she wouldn’t give for Catra to be here with her now. She’s never scared, at least on the outside. Her confidence is infectious. Scorpia can’t help but feel braver, surer of herself, when Catra is around. Unfortunately, she’s still a wanted criminal, and also basically bedridden. So Scorpia has to go into one of the most terrifying situations she’s ever put herself into alone.

At that thought, the lights in the corridor suddenly flicker out. She hears some muffled chaos on the other side of the door and can’t help but smile. Right on time.

Somewhere in the walls, she knows, Entrapta is busily tearing out the Horde’s old outdated wiring and replacing it entirely. While this is in progress, however, this entire area is in a complete blackout.

Scorpia moves quickly. According to Entrapta, she has about half an hour until the lights, and more importantly, the cameras, come back online, but that still might not be enough time. She unspools the cord and jacks it into the door control, giving the system just enough power to shift the heavy reinforced doors open enough for Scorpia to slip through.

On the other side, she can hear more clearly the guards vocalizing their complaints over the downed power. She tiptoes as quietly as possible forward, stopping when a sudden updraft warns her of a drop in front of her.

She lets out a sigh. Moving around in pitch darkness is dangerous, but she can’t risk a light, or the guards might spot her.

She sits, perched on the edge of an unseen abyss, and gradually pushes herself off, straining silently to lower herself down until she is holding on with her claws outstretched above her. The wounds in her side scream at her, but she clamps down with years of Horde training, pushing her body through and beyond the pain. Sucking in a deep breath, she swings slightly towards the outer wall, releasing her grip so that she drops the last couple of feet onto the floor below with a metallic thump.

She freezes for a moment, certain that someone would have heard, but after a few moments of no response, she relaxes and stands. Her leg has joined the chorus with her side, but she pushes it aside. Moving back to the edge of the central opening, she invisibly smiles a grim smile to herself. Only half a dozen more floors to go. Easy.

After an agonizing eternity, she finally arrives at the very bottom floor. She takes a moment to catch her breath, then stands. Only now does she risk a light, using the luminescent screen of her timer to look around at the numbers on the doors around her. She walks around the outer wall, counting under her breath, before stopping abruptly.

This is it.

Before she can have second thoughts, she jacks the power supply into the door control and opens it, leaving the secondary force field off. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then steps through the open door.

In the light of her timer, she can see a tall, pale, scarred figure. A figure who has haunted her nightmares the last few nights. Eyes stare at her from a mess of tangled hair, and she clears her throat. This is why she came here. She needs to do this.

She wets her mouth, then whispers, “I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! This one is extra long, let's call it make up for a couple of short chapters. I'm super excited to be moving so quickly to the finish line. Thank you so much for reading, comments and criticism welcome!


	14. A Family Friend, A New Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Facing her fears, Scorpia goes to speak to someone who once shunned her, and finds a friend.

“And what,” asks the prisoner, slowly, “could the traitor princess need my help for?”

Scorpia swallows the lump in her throat. She can’t afford to break down again. Right now, this man is the only connection she has to her past, to her people. Without that connection, she might as well give up and put her head on the chopping block.

She takes a deep breath and, shutting her eyes, finally responds, “You were right.”

The silence is deafening, but terror keeps Scorpia from opening her eyes to gauge his reaction. She swallows again, then continues in a rush, “You’re right. I’m a traitor and a disgrace and everything else you want to call me. I accepted everything the Horde told me, like an idiot, even though it should have been obvious it was all lies. I didn’t want to see the truth.” Scorpia’s claws are clenched so hard that part of her is afraid that she’s going to crack her exoskeleton. Her eyes fly open and she continues, “but I see the truth now! I see that I was wrong, and ignorant, and I need your help. I want to fix this, but I need your help.”

In the near-complete darkness, it is impossible to gauge his reaction. He is silent for an unbearable time, both Scorpians still as statues, staring at one another.

Finally, the silence is broken by a low chuckle. At first, Scorpia is startled by the sound, it being not at all what she had been expecting, but her fear is quickly replaced by confusion.

“That is exactly what I had been hoping you would say.” Still chuckling, he stands to his full height, only an inch or two shorter than Scorpia and once just as broad, if not broader. “I had always hoped that, one day, you would come back to us. That you would lead us to throw off the Horde’s chains and reclaim what they took from us.” He steps forward so that she can see his face more clearly. “I have to admit, I was afraid that you were… too far gone. I’m glad to see that isn’t the case.”

Scorpia lets out a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and reaches out, suddenly pulling him into an exoskeleton-crushing bear hug. He lets out a surprised grunt, but quickly softens into it, patting her on the back.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbles into his shoulder. “I don’t even know your name or even who you are, really.”

He lets out a laugh. “It’s alright! You hug first, ask questions later. Your mother was the same way. You can call me Darius.”

She pulls slightly out of the hug to look at him with a tearstained face. “Did you know her well?”

Darius nods, smile failing. “Yes, I did. I was the captain of her guard. When the Horde came, during the final battle over the Black Garnet, I was captured defending it, and her. She was executed by that monster they call Hordak, right in front of my eyes. I should have died with her. Instead, they locked me up here, and questioned me about the runestone. They didn’t like it when I answered that they had just killed the person on Etheria who understood it best, and left me to rot in here.” His voice breaks partway through, and he turns his face away. “if I was hard on you before… just know that it wasn’t your fault. I failed. I failed her, and I failed you. I was just trying to pass the blame on to someone else.”

Scorpia shakes her head. “I’m sure you did all that you could. The Horde… they’re horrible. They’ve hurt so many people.” She pauses, thinking of Catra. “But that’s why I can’t let them keep doing it. It needs to stop. But I can’t stop it without help.” Her face hardens. “You said that our people are slaves, here in the Fright Zone. Where? Why have I never seen them before? And if I find them, how can I free them? How can I convince them to fight for me?” Even if I’m not sure that I deserve their trust or their loyalty, she adds in her head.

He sighs and pulls away from her, returning to the bench and sitting with a groan. “I have been locked in this cell for far too long to be of use to you.”

Scorpia takes a step forward and kneels, staring him directly in the eyes. “Don’t say that. I won’t accept it. You must know something.”

He stares at her for a moment, then laughs softly. “You really are just like your mother. She was a born warrior, a born leader. Just like you.” She blushes, but remains silent. He sighs. “All I know is what I overhear from the guards. They like to gossip about me.” He shoots her a grim smile, then continues, “apparently, there are massive ore mines underneath the Fright Zone. A lot of the work is done by their ‘robots,’ but slaves also make up a large part of the work force. Not just our people, either, but slaves taken from all across Etheria. Some might not be able to be saved, either broken by the work and the abuse, or filled with some kind of horrible, twisted hope that things will get better if they are ‘loyal’ to their masters. But I’m sure that many are just waiting for an opportunity. That’s where you come in.”

Scorpia listens intently to his hushed words. Most of this she had guessed or worked out on her own, but the fact that the mines were directly under the Fright Zone surprised her. “What do I need to do?”

“You need to get in there. Show them that there’s hope, that you’re on their side. Fill their hearts and their minds. If you can, get them weapons. Nothing hardens someone’s courage like a weapon in their claw. We are a warrior people. Remind them of that.” He suddenly looks at her, curiously. “How much do you know about our culture?”

She shakes her head, embarrassed flush creeping up her face. “Not much.”

He frowns, but nods. “Understandable. I can teach you some things. Stories that we tell our children around the fire. It won’t be much, but it might be enough to convince them of your sincerity. Above all, though, be honest.”

Scorpia nods slowly, mulling over what has been said. “Thank you,” she says, finally. “For everything.”

Darius smiles. “It is my pleasure, Princess.”

Scorpia feels the strangest tug at her gut when she hears that word. She has never thought of herself as a Princess, not really. She never fit in with the other Princesses, and she just ended up distancing herself from that entire identity. But now, it feels right, somehow.

“Now come on. There is much to teach you, and I doubt you have much time left. Let’s make the most of it.”

 

Scorpia glances at the timer. Only a few minutes left to get out before the lights come back on. She looks back up, through the still-open door, knowing that, despite the darkness, her newest ally is smiling at her.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back before… Before it happens.” She says. “But I will come back for you. I promise you that.”

He responds, simply, “I know that you will.” As she powers the door and shuts it. Clipping the device back to her waist, she turns around, looking around the pitch-black cell block.

“Ok. Now how do I get out of here?”

 

In the end, she gets out the way she came in, using the floors of the block as a kind of giant’s ladder. By the end of the climb, she is exhausted, and she’s pretty sure she’s opened up the wound on her side again, but she manages to limp out the door into the hallway just as the power returns. She leans against a wall, panting and clutching her side.

“How did it go?” The sudden voice causes her to jump, but she recovers quickly.

“Don’t scare me like that, Entrapta.”

“How would you like me to scare you, then?”

“No, I mean, don’t scare me at all, please.” Scorpia sounds exasperated, but she can’t help but smile. Entrapta just has that effect on her sometimes. “And to answer your original question… It went well. Better than I had expected, actually.” She pushes off from the wall and looks up and Entrapta’s head poking out of a vent in the wall. “Could you do me a favor? Can you find out if there are mines underneath the Fright Zone, and how to get into them?”

Entrapta smiles and nods. “Of course! I have access to all the Fright Zone structural schematics to complete my work on the power grid, it should be a simple matter to locate!” With that, she vanishes into the air ducts.

Scorpia shakes her head and chuckles. Entrapta never seems to understand that sometimes, questions don’t need immediate answers. But maybe it’s for the best that she isn’t tied up in a long conversation. Right now, Scorpia just wants to get a new bandage and then pass out for a week. She sets off down the hall towards the Force Captain barracks, doing her best to mask the pain that shoots up her leg and side every time she takes a step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! So I'm running out of time and I keep on realizing that this is going to be longer than I thought! So It probably won't be finished by the time s3 drops, but that's ok! I will still finish it, so no worries! Thank you for reading!


	15. The Top and The Bottom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a tense and disturbing meeting with Hordak, Scorpia descends into the bowls of the Fright Zone...

“This is ridiculous!” Grizzlor growls, looking between Octavia and Scorpia as Hordak watches silently from his throne.

Scorpia muses to herself that the Force Captain meetings are getting smaller and smaller. First Catra’s supposed banishment, then Hithar’s death have left the group sorely depleted, and Hordak, for whatever reason, seems to not be inclined to replace them yet.

She shrugs, waving a file of papers in his direction. “If you want to read the reports yourself, go ahead. But I’m not making this up.” Carefully, she opens the file, holding it in both claws, doing her best not to drop it. Catra might forgive that kind of thing, but she doubts this audience would.

“Something is spreading through the cadets in the Fright Zone. There have been reports of them gathering in the halls. Multiple officers have received anonymous threats of violence. One, in fact, was assaulted in the parade yard by a cadet. Before his execution, the traitor was heard to mention something called ‘The Cat’s Claw,’ claiming that it was responsible for the murder of Force Captain Hithar.” She shuts the file, keeping her face carefully neutral, despite the satisfaction welling up in her chest. Lonnie had done exactly what she had asked her to.

Octavia sneers. “Filthy cadets. Discipline has been lacking recently, I say. This is all that upstart Catra’s fault, mark my words.”

Grizzlor rolls his eyes, turning towards Octavia. “You blame everything on Catra, Octavia. That whelp only had any power for about a month, remember? No, this is definitely the fault of that witch. She doted on the cadets, and look what’s happened now. One is a princess and the rest are turning traitor.”

Octavia scoffs, “and what of this… Cat’s Claw? This stinks of the handiwork of that egotistical little shit. She was a bad apple from the start, but Shadow Weaver ignored my suggestions for her to be strung up as a demonstration to the other cadets.” Almost unconsciously, Octavia reaches up and brushes the skin under one eye, where a faint scar is still visible.

Grizzlor looks thoughtful, and glances towards Scorpia. “And what about you, Scorpia? You were, what, Catra’s assistant during her tenure as Force Captain, weren’t you?”

Scorpia’s brow furrows and folds her arms across her chest, her tail swaying behind her. Her voice is dangerously low when she replies, “you aren’t saying that I have anything to do with this, are you?”

Grizzlor clears his throat and shakes his head in an empathetic ‘no.’ Scorpia outclasses him physically in pretty much every single way and he knows it. “Of course not! I was simply asking if you had noticed any unusual conduct that could have led to this.”

Scorpia considers her words carefully. “No. Nothing like this. I always believed that she was as loyal to the Horde as anyone in this room.” Not technically a lie, since she is literally at this moment planning a coup. “Besides, if Catra was behind this, why would it be happening now, so long after she was banished?

The other two Force Captains don’t have an answer for that. Scorpia smiles internally. As long as they are confused and suspicious, she can dance around them as much as she wants.

Hordak’s voice startles the trio out of their tense silence. “This discussion is pointless. If these cadets desire to be punished as traitors, we will grant their desire.” He stands, capturing the three Force Captains in his scarlet glare. “All cadets found gathering in the halls will be punished for insubordination, starting immediately. We will crush this treason.” His gaze focuses on Scorpia. “Force Captain Scorpia… I place you in charge of these punishments.”

She can feel Octavia and Grizzlor’s almost envious gazes as she bows to Hordak, but her own blood is cold. The standard punishment for insubordination is 5 lashes for the first offence. She has to brutally beat these children for doing something that she has asked them to do. Is it just a coincidence, that Hordak chose her? Or does he suspect?

She swallows the lump in her throat. Whatever the case, she has no choice. It’s more important now than ever that she keep up appearances.

 

Scorpia is subdued when she leaves Hordak’s sanctum. The three Force Captains silently go their separate ways, and Scorpia is left to wander alone, stewing in her stress.

“Hey. Hey, Scorpia!” Scorpia blinks and stops in her tracks, turning to face the voice.

“Oh, hey, Lonnie.”

“Did ya forget we were supposed to meet up at the mess hall?” Lonnie smiles, but her eyes betray her concern.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Something happened and it’s got me worried.”

Lonnie’s smile slips into a frown. “What happened?”

“Hordak just ordered that cadets gathering in the halls are going to be punished, and that it’s my job to do it. You don’t think he suspects me, do you?”

Lonnie’s frown deepens and she places her hands on her hips. “I dunno. Seems like if he suspected what we’re doin’, he’d have punished you more directly, you know?” Her eyebrow inches upwards. “Hey, maybe this is a good thing. Maybe it means that he trusts you more. Might make our job easier.”

Scorpia thinks for a moment, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Hey, maybe you’re right! But that still doesn’t help the cadets. They don’t deserve that.”

Lonnie thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “We’ll jus’ have to try and spread the word. These kids knew what they were getting into. Besides, it’s not like he can stop them from talking in the mess hall or the barracks.” Her lips part into a smile. “Now come on. We got a lot to do.”

Scorpia nods. “Right. Lead the way.”

Lonnie turns and walks off down the corridor, Scorpia close behind. The pair travel the twisting corridors, taking an incomprehensible number of turns and stairways to try and avoid as many cameras and security patrols as possible. They go ever downwards, until they turn a corner and Scorpia spots something that causes her to stop.

“Wow.” She mutters, a half-smile on her lips. “Did you tell them to do that?”

Scorpia is looking at a relatively flat and open space on the wall, the green-gray metal of the Fright Zone interrupted by a splash of bright red. Someone had painted on the wall a design that looks like a long, curved claw, dragging a line of dripping scarlet across the wall.

Lonnie glances up and down the hall. “Nah, they did that themselves. Come on, we probably shouldn’t be seen here.”

Scorpia nods and takes a step, but her eyes are still glued to the graffiti. She looks up at the ceiling, scanning for something. “It’s pretty clever. Look, I don’t see a single camera in this corridor. I bet that’s why they put it here.”

Lonnie nods, distractedly. “Yeah, really clever. Now get your ass out of here before someone comes!”

Scorpia shakes herself out of it and follows Lonnie at a half-jog, and soon the art is out of sight behind them.

 

Soon, they reach their destination. In the lowest levels of the Fright Zone, where repair crews seldom bother to come, the lights flicker and dim unexpectedly, and the walls are covered in rust and other, less identifiable things.

“Yuk,” Scorpia sticks her tongue out. “This place is disgusting.”

“Jus’ don’t touch green slime and you’ll be fine,” Lonnie replies, ducking under a piece of piping that has come loose from the wall.

“I still can’t believe that the only entrance to the mines is down here.” Scorpia glances at the pipe and easily rips it entirely from the wall, tossing it aside.

Lonnie shrugs. “Accordin’ to the schematics that your Princess pal gave us, this is the only way for people to get in and out. There’s some kinda elevator that leads up into the foundries, but that’s only for ore.”

“How do they get food?”

Lonnie shrugs. “Beats me.”

Scorpia frowns in concern. Even Hordak knows that slaves have to eat, right?

“Here.” Lonnie has stopped in front of a large door, passing over a set of rails and flanked by a pair of empty guard posts.

“This is so weird,” Scorpia says, walking up to the door. “It isn’t even guarded?”

Lonnie steps into one of the guard posts and shrugs. “Guess they don’t think they have to.” She brushes the dust off the control panel with a hand, and experimentally taps a few buttons, to no effect. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s opened this in a while…”

“Look at this. The entire thing’s rusted shut.” Scorpia taps the door with a claw. “Even if the controls worked, it probably wouldn’t open.”

Lonnie lets out an annoyed huff. “So now what?”

Scorpia glances around, and her eyes land on the guard post. She moves over to it and squats, examining where it meets the floor. “Yeah, just like the ones upstairs. It’s a whole piece that’s been bolted to the floor. And look! All the bolts are all rusted.”

“Yeah? So? How does that help us?”

As an answer, Scorpia brings her claw down on one of the bolts, breaking it off. She moves around the post, breaking off all the bolts, before standing back up. She leans over and wraps her arms around the guard post, but stops herself. “Oh, shoot. Almost forgot!” She shifts her stance so that she isn’t leaning over, and instead her legs are widespread.

Lonnie snorts. “There’s no way you’re gonna be able to…” She is interrupted by the scream of tortured metal as Scorpia pulls on the guard post, using her leg muscles to pull it away from the snapped bolts. She grunts, and with a twanging of snapped cables, the entire piece comes off the ground, leaving a hole full of slightly sparking frayed ends behind.

“Holy shit,” Lonnie breathes, staring wide-eyed at Scorpia, who gives her a smile, sweat beading on her brow.

Scorpia shifts her grip on the post so that it’s under one arm, the more solid end out in front of her. “Here goes nothing…” She murmurs, backing up slightly, before taking a running start and slamming the post into the rusted door. It bounces back with a resounding boom, leaving a slight dent behind. Scorpia wipes her brow and lets out a sigh.

“This might take a little while,” she says, turning towards Lonnie with a smile. Lonnie waves her hand, a slight smile of her own on her face, and leans against the wall to watch.

Scorpia continues to slam the improvised battering ram against the door, each time producing a sound like a cannon made out of trash cans and deepening the dent. A gap is soon visible between the doors, widening with each blow. As soon as it’s several inches wide, Scorpia tosses aside the now very battered guard post and inserts both claws into the gap. With a long groan, she forces the bent metal apart, inch by inch widening the existing gap. When it’s almost a foot wide, she stops, and drops her arms, panting heavily.

“I think… It’s time for a break…” Scorpia stumbles away from the door and flops on the floor next to Lonnie, back against the wall. She tilts her head back and closes her eyes, breath still heavy. She wipes her face, but she is still drenched in sweat.

Lonnie shakes her head. “Holy shit. I gotta say, I’m a little frightened right now.”

Scorpia opens one eye and glances at Lonnie. “What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?” Lonnie gestures towards the massacred door. “You jus’ forced a blast door open with nothing but somethin’ you ripped out of the floor and your own two ha- claws. I’m pretty sure that if you wanted to crush my skull, it wouldn’t even be hard for you.”

Scorpia chuckles. “I’d never do that.”

Lonnie nods, but is still staring at the door. “Do you hear somethin’?”

Scorpia blinks and tries to quiet her breathing enough to listen for what Lonnie is talking about. After a moment, she hears it too: the sound of echoing footsteps, coming from beyond the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia can crush my skull and I would thank her.
> 
> Only a couple more days until s3 drops! I'm excited, are you? Thank you for reading, I love your comments and criticism.


	16. The Princess and The Slaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia meets a new friend who leads her to a meeting she's been looking forward to...

The footsteps continue to echo from the darkness beyond the door, getting closer and closer.

With another groan, Scorpia pushes herself to her feet. “Someone on the other side must have heard us.”

Lonnie snorts, “ya think?”

Ignoring her, Scorpia steps forward, subconsciously straightening her back and forcing her breathing to a more normal rate. Without even meaning to, she quickly sets herself into a posture of strength and confidence, born of about two decades of training. “Who’s there?” she calls out, her voice even.

The footsteps beyond the door pause. After a moment, an uncertain voice responds, “I- uh, I’m… My name is Poppy.”

At the sound of the voice, Scorpia’s shoulders relax and her voice takes on a softer tone. “Hi, Poppy. I’m Scorpia.”

“Were- were you trying to open the door? They said that that door doesn’t open.”

A small grin lights up Scorpia’s face. “Yeah, I was. Did you hear all the banging? Sorry if it was loud, but this door is pretty tough. I think I should have it open soon, just needs a little more work.” Scorpia lowers her face to the hole that she had already made. Squinting her eyes, she can just barely make out a thin figure obscured in the shadows.

The figure takes a step back. “Y- you can actually open it?”

Scorpia’s brow furrows. “Yeah… Can’t you see the hole I’ve already made? I’m looking right at you.”

“O-oh… no, I can’t…” The figure steps forward, revealing itself to be a petite woman. The nubs of antlers just barely poke out of her hairline, and a small, twitching triangular nose is set between two wide, milky eyes. Poppy folds her arms across her chest, running long fingers through the soft, spotted hair on her elbows.

Scorpia blinks. “Oh…”

“Did you mean it, though? When you said you could open the door?”

Scorpia nods enthusiastically, then when she realizes that Poppy can’t see that, says, “Of course! One second… Maybe you should step back, just in case, ok?”

Poppy takes a step back again, and Scorpia backs away from the door slightly. She lets out a sigh and places her claws at the edged of the hole again. “Ok, one, two, three!” With that, she strains against the metal, once again bending the doors away from each other and widening the gap. This time, she works in small bursts, pulling for a few seconds before stopping to take a breath and shift the locations of her claws. Her own grunts and groans harmonize with the screech of tortured metal, causing Poppy to flinch slightly.

Before too long, the hole has widened to the point where even Scorpia can get through, though she does have to do just a little bit of contortion to manage it. Lonnie follows behind and lets out a low, impressed whistle.

“There… we go!” Scorpia manages to say through heavy, panting breaths. She steps over to the wall of the passage beyond the door and leans against it, closing her eyes and struggling to catch her breath. “I am… going to be… so sore tomorrow…”

Poppy takes a few hesitant steps forward and holds her hand out where the door used to be. “I can’t believe it…” she whispers.

Lonnie chuckles. “You act like you’ve never been outside.” When Poppy doesn’t respond, her face falls. “You… you haven’t, have you.”

Poppy’s face is calm, but her shoulders hunch over as she replies, “I was born down here. My mother was already pregnant when the Horde brought her here.”

Scorpia’s eyes open and she takes in Poppy, standing fully in the light now. She sees her sickly figure, her pale skin where her brown coat is falling out in clumps, barely hidden under something that looks close enough to a burlap sack to be indistinguishable. She pushes herself away from the wall with a grunt and takes a few unsteady steps towards Poppy before wrapping her in a warm bear hug.

Poppy starts, then softens into the hug. She reaches up and runs her fingers along Scorpia’s exoskeleton, pausing to feel each spike. “You’re just like them.” She murmurs. “They said that there weren’t any more outside. They’re going to be so happy to see you.”

Scorpia blink in surprise, then smiles. “I actually came to meet them. Can you lead me to them?”

Poppy makes a small affirmative noise, and Scorpia reluctantly releases her from the hug. She lingers next to Scorpia for a moment before turning down the passageway. The light from the destroyed door only reaches so far, and beyond that everything is pitch black.

“You know your way around this place?” Lonnie asks.

Poppy smiles. “I used to sneak away play in these tunnels as a child. I know them very well.”

Scorpia peers into the darkness. “We aren’t as good as getting around in the dark as you are, Poppy. Give me your hand, and I’ll hold Lonnie’s hand, and that way we won’t be separated.”

Lonnie groans in protest, but at the look in Scorpia’s eyes, holds her hand out wordlessly. Scorpia takes it, and Poppy’s. “Ok, let’s go.” Poppy nods, and sets off down the passageway, into the pitch blackness.

 

After an eternity of straining against the darkness, Scorpia’s eyes finally catch a faint glimmer of light ahead of them. Another minute, and the glimmer has grown into a glow, radiating from around a bend in the rough tunnel ahead of them. As the group rounds the bend, the source becomes clear.

The tunnel widens suddenly into a large, open cavern. Numerous lanterns, giving off light from some unknown means, hang from the ceiling and poles hammered into the floor. A couple dozen small shelters are scattered about, some made from truly ancient-looking animal skins, others from collected boulders or Horde scrap metal.

What really catches her eyes, however, are the people. Scores of them wander about the cavern, either working around the shelters or doing something across from where the group entered. While a small scattering are horned or antlered inhabitants of the Whispering Woods and surrounding areas, by far most are…

“My people…” Scorpia breathes. Her legs wobble underneath her and she falls against the wall, vision blurry. “They… they’re actually here…” Tears run freely down her cheeks, and she doesn’t even bother to wipe her eyes.

Lonnie looks at her, expression unreadable, then glances towards Poppy. “You’ll have to forgive her. She can be… a little emotional.”

Poppy smiles quietly in response. “Welcome to Zarqa’s Forest.”

“Zarqa… that’s… I remember that one! She was a queen, right? Didn’t she die when…”

Poppy shrugs, still smiling. “I think they meant it as a sort of dark joke. I did always love hearing about her, though…” she sighs, wistfully.

Lonnie looks at Scorpia, eyebrow raised in an obvious question. Scorpia shakes her head. “I don’t know the whole story, but apparently Zarqa was at war with some other kingdom. She had amazing eyesight and no one could sneak up on her, she was always prepared for everything they would throw at her. Until… She went into the Whispering Woods, and they ambushed her.”

“So they called it… Ah. Yeah, I get it.” Lonne shakes her head and snorts.

Scorpia groans and pushes herself off the wall. She wobbles from side to side for a moment, but manages to find her feet. She wipes her eyes and says, “Come on. Is there a leader here, Poppy? I need to speak to them, right away.’

Poppy’s brow furrows, and she shakes her head. “No… mostly we just all make decisions, together. There’s a bell in the center of the village to call everyone over, though.”

Scorpia looks, and sure enough, there is a vaguely bell-shaped piece of scrap metal in the center of the ramshackle shelters. She squares her shoulders, and taking a deep breath, marches directly towards it.

 

As she passes the first of the buildings, she feels, more than sees, all activity stop around her. People stop in their tracks, staring. She hears hushed conversation from all around and feels the tips of her ears grow red under the armor lining her cheekbones, but keeps going, not glancing to either side, eyes focused on her goal.

Behind her, Lonnie watches from the edge of the cavern, while Poppy turns back and forth, confused by the large woman’s sudden disappearance. As more and more start following behind Scorpia, Scorpians and others both, Lonnie smiles to herself.

“She’s done it again.”

Scorpia stops in front of the bell, and eyes it for a moment. A cord hangs from the tongue on the inside, and Scorpia reaches up and grasps it. She stays like that for a moment, taking a deep breath, before swinging the cord from side to side, causing the bell to ring with a dull sound.

All across the cavern, activity stops. All eyes turn towards Scorpia, and the whispers reach a fever pitch of intensity. Slowly, they filter in through the buildings, forming a rough circle around her. The whispers soon drift into silence, and the ring of faces stare at Scorpia, laying her soul bare for all to see.

She clears her throat and closes her eyes, forcing herself to take deep, slow breaths. Remember why you’re here, she tells herself, and opens her eyes.

“Hello!” she begins brightly, lips splitting into a wide smile. The wall of impassive faces around her doesn’t change, and behind them, Lonnie slams her palm into her forehead. Scorpia’s smile slips ever so slightly. She blows some air between her lips, and pulls her smile back on. “My name is Scorpia, or maybe you already knew that?” Silence. “Anyway, I’m supposed to be your Princess, well, most of your Princess, not all of you…” The oppressive silence swallows her words. She swallows nervously. “But yeah! I was kind of hoping, if it would be ok, maybe we could… work together…” She trails off in the face of the absolute ocean of stillness around her.

She sighs, combing her hair with her claw and shaking her head. “Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, or even listen to me. I failed you. I failed all of you.” The crowd stirs at that, but she continues. “While you all were down here, I fought for the person behind it all, who destroyed your homes and your families. And… I’m sorry. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I certainly don’t deserve your loyalty, but…” She looks at her claws, silent for a moment, then her face hardens. “I have no right to ask this of you, but I am, anyway. Help me. Help me fight, to destroy the Horde, to stop them from hurting anyone else, ever. Help me fight for your home, for your family. And then… after that, I accept whatever you want to do with me.”

Silence descends again, but this time, it is contemplative, rather than hostile. The crowd rustles, quick glances and muttered conversations spreading around the circle, until one figure breaks out into the center.

“I knew your name sounded familiar,” says Poppy. She wrings her hands in front of her for a moment before continuing, “I’ve heard stories about your mother, the queen, but everyone always said that you were dead.”

Scorpia sighs. “I’m sorry…”

Poppy shakes her head. “No. Don’t say that.”

“But…”

“Princesses don’t say sorry. They make things better. My mom used to say that, when I was little.” Poppy reaches out and places her hand on Scorpia’s cheek. “So make it better.”

Scorpia looks surprised, but then nods. “I will. I promise.”

Poppy smiles. “Then I promise to help you.” She steps back and turns around. “What do you all think?” She asks in a sudden shout.

The crowd is quiet for a long, tense moment. Scorpia’s heart begins to sink, but then a voice from the back of the crowd suddenly breaks the hush.

“Scorpia! Scorpia! Scorpia!” The voice continues to chant her name and one by one, the rest pick it up, too, until the entire cavern rings with the name.

“SCORPIA! SCORPIA! SCORPIA!”

Scorpia looks around, her face lit up with wonder. Lonnie pushes her way through the crowd, smirk on her face, and moves to stand by Scorpia’s side.

“I thought I recognized your voice,” Scorpia says, low enough to be drowned out by the chanting crowd.

Lonnie shrugs. “What? They were probably gonna follow you anyway. I just gave ‘em a little nudge.”

Scorpia rolls her eyes and shakes her head, but doesn’t push it. She smiles and punches a claw into the air, and the crowd redoubles its enthusiasm.

“WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, HORDAK!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... That season 3, huh?
> 
> Don't worry, it hasn't changed anything, I'm still finishing this fic the way that I had always intended to. Besides, what few headcanons of mine that it invalidated have already been in previous chapters!
> 
> Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I love reading your comments!


	17. Plots, Punishments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a successful trip down to the mines, Scorpia returns to her room for some R&R.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special warning for this single chapter: there is a scene of torture and electrocution! Be warned or skip this chapter if you so desire!

“That was great!” Scorpia elbows Lonnie, who stumbles a few paces before catching herself, rubbing her side. Grinning, she elbows Scorpia back, but has about as much effect on her as a fly ramming itself into a wall.

“I gotta admit, you keep on impressin’ me today. First that door, and then you had ‘em eatin’ outta your hands in, what, ten minutes?”

Scorpia blushes and rubs the back of her neck. “Well, claws, but you know. You and Poppy helped. Thanks, by the way.”

“Don’ mention it.” The pair are returning back to the upper levels of the Fright Zone, taking the same meandering route that they took earlier. As they arrive in the more inhabited areas, they instead shift over to a more direct path towards the Force Captain barracks.

They pause outside of Scorpia’s door. A guard eyes them curiously, until Scorpia gives them a sharp glance and they turn away hurriedly. “Thank you for assisting me, Cadet Lonnie. Keep it up, and I see a promotion for you soon.” In response, Lonnie snaps off a perfect salute, all the while rolling her eyes. Scorpia has to stifle a giggle as she salutes back and turns on her heel to enter her room.

 

Catra looks up as she enters. “Hey, Scorpia.”

All the weariness from her earlier exertion drops from Scorpia’s shoulders as she hears those words. She smiles at Catra and walks over to the bed, throwing herself down so that her legs are off the side, feet still on the floor.

“Augh!” Catra struggles to keep her balance as the entire bed is thrown around by Scorpia’s massive bulk and ends up clutching the headrest.

Scorpia covers her smile with her claw. “Oops! Sorry, Wildcat, you ok?”

Catra glances at Scorpia and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, sure.” She releases her grip on the headrest and returns to whatever she’s doing on the small screen in front of her.

“What are you up to?” Scorpia lifts her head off the bed to look at Catra.

Catra shrugs. “Just trying to pass the time while you go do your Princess thing. If this coup is going to work, we have to have more of a plan than ‘make friends with some slaves and children.’” With that, she flips the screen around so Scorpia can see. On it is a map of the Fright Zone, with troop numbers and movements written in scribbly notation.

Scorpia sits up and takes the pad from Catra. “You’ve been working on this a while,” she observes.

Catra shrugs. “It’s not like I have a lot to do cooped up in here all day. And I can only do so many laps before I go crazy.”

Scorpia runs her eyes over the numbers and lets out a low whistle. “Where are you getting all of this?”

“I asked Entrapta to hook me up with a connection to the database. That, plus the fact that you do your paperwork in here,” Catra points to a stack of reports and other files, covered in Scorpia’s signature large, slow handwriting, “means I know pretty much everything that goes on around here.”

Scorpia looks thoughtful for a moment, then counts under her breath. “Wait… If these are accurate, and of course I trust you, Wildcat, between Entrapta’s robots, Lonnie’s cadets, and my, uh, subjects? Is subjects the right word?” She glances at Catra, who shrugs. “Anyway, with all of that, we pretty easily outnumber the actual troops in the Fright Zone.”

Catra nods. “I saw that too. Of course, my numbers are probably a little off, but there has always been a pretty light garrison in the Fright Zone. Most of the troops are deployed elsewhere, which is what I’m worried about.”

Scorpia thinks a moment, then glances back up. “As soon as we make our move…”

Catra nods. “The rest of the Horde armies will turn right around and crush us. We’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Scorpia doesn’t have an answer for that. She swallows, then forces a smile. “Look, let’s not worry about that right now. What’s important is, we’re getting closer and closer to taking Hordak down. We can figure out what to do about the rest of the armies later. I’m sure we can think of something.” In fact, Scorpia already has an idea for how to solve that particular problem, though when she glances at Catra, she knows that it will meet some resistance.

Suddenly, there is a pounding knock at the door. Catra and Scorpia share a panicked glance before both pushing themselves of the bed. Catra wobbles, but Scorpia catches her and with a whispered, “Sorry, Wildcat!” practically throws her under the bed. Whoever is at her door knocks again, and Scorpia rushes to open it.

“Yes? What is the meaning of this?” She asks in her best ‘Force Captain’ voice, though the effect is ruined by her being slightly out of breath.

The helmeted soldier outside her door takes a surprised step back, but quickly regains their composure. “Force Captain!  I have been instructed to deliver a summons from Lord Hordak!”

Scorpia blinks. She’s getting better at not reacting when someone says that, she thinks to herself, before responding, “Thank you, soldier. Dismissed.” They salute, then turn down the hall and march away.

Scorpia closes the door, and glances back towards where Catra is peeking out from under the bed, a confused look on her face. “Didn’t you just meet with him earlier today?” She asks, as she scoots further out.

Scorpia nods, face twisted in concern. “Yeah, I did… I have no clue what this could be about. Sorry, Wildcat, looks like I have to go out again.”

Catra rolls her eyes. “My life doesn’t revolve around you, you know.”

Scorpia nods, but can’t help but feel hurt by the casual disregard in her voice. As she turns to go, however, she just barely hears Catra say something to her back.

“Stay safe.”

 

“It is time for you to fulfill your latest duty, Force Captain.” The tone of Hordak’s voice sends chills down Scorpia’s spine. He almost sounds… gleeful, in a cold, detached way.

“I’m not sure what you mean…” Realization hits her like a tank. “You mean there are already some cadets who have broken the new rules?”

“We have caught a traitor defacing the walls of the Fright Zone with treasonous imagery. Of course, normally this would be grounds for immediate execution, but I believe this is the perfect chance to make an example to the rest of his filth.”

Scorpia feels her heart drop into her stomach. The graffiti that she and Lonnie had seen… Was this the kid who had made that? She is careful to keep her voice even as she says, “Of course, Lord Hordak.”

“As we speak, the cadets are being assembled in the parade yard. You, Force Captain, will have the great honor of delivering the traitor’s punishment.”

“Ah- about that, uh, Lord Hordak.” As soon as Hordak turns his scarlet glare on her, she regrets speaking, but continues regardless. “I’ve been thinking, and, uh, maybe I’m not the best person? Not that I’m not willing, of course I am, but, well, don’t lashes involve, well, a whip? And whips kind of… require a wrist, which I don’t really have…”

For a moment, Hordak is terrifyingly silent, but then he chuckles, a sound that Scorpia is sure will haunt her nightmares. “Of course, Force Captain. But not to worry. I have taken that into account, as well.” Hordak moves to a table just hidden in the shadows of his throne room and picks something up before returning. He holds it out for Scorpia to take, revealing it to be a long, thin rod, with a pair of cruel-looking blades at one end.

Scorpia eyes it, confused for a moment, before taking it. As soon as she touches a control on the side of the rod, hissing sparks arc between and around the blades, and horrible realization dawns on her face. She looks back up at Hordak, who grins cruelly.

“Correct, Force Captain. That is a modified form of a standard-issue Horde stun weapon, though the voltage has been increased substantially. I am told that it is exquisitely painful, if it doesn’t simply stop the victim’s heart.”

Scorpia swallows and looks back down at the torture device in her hands. Her entire body and soul urges her to throw the horrific thing far, far away, but she forces herself to keep a firm grip on it. Her thoughts swirl against each other, screaming at her that she can’t do this, that she has to stop this.

But that’s the problem.

She has to do this.

She doesn’t have a choice.

 

The air is thick with tension as well as the normal Fright Zone pollutants as Scorpia marches behind Hordak out on to the parade field, clutching her horrific instrument in both claws.

“CADETS OF THE HORDE!” Hordak bellows, voice artificially magnified through some means. “TODAY YOU WITNESS THE FATE OF TRAITORS AND INSURGENTS WHO SEEK TO UNDERMINE OUR RIGHTFUL CONQUEST!”

In the center of the field, on a platform erected for the purpose, a boy kneels, his hands bound behind him. He turns to Scorpia to glare at her, and with a start she realizes just how young he is. He can’t be more than twelve or thirteen, at the most. Once again, Scorpia’s heart urges her to stop this, now, but she forces herself to march forward.

Far too quickly, she is standing on the platform, behind the boy. Her eyes catch Lonnie’s face in the crowd, eyes betraying her own fear and worry, but Scorpia can’t reassure her. She can’t even reassure herself.

She glances towards where Hordak is standing on his own dais, observing her coldly. This is a test, she decides. If she fails, she won’t live to see another moonrise. She has to pass, for her own sake, as well as Catra’s.

Catra.

For Catra.

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, far too low for any in the stands to hear her, but the boy twists, surprise visible in his face. Before he can say anything, though, Scorpia presses the control and jabs the device into his side.

He immediately starts to convulse, not even able to scream. He twists his body, vainly trying to pull away from the pain coursing through him, but his bindings hold him fast. His eyes bulge, almost seeming to try and escape from his head as a choked gagging noise comes from his throat. Scorpia swallows and turns towards Hordak, eyes desperately searching for a signal to stop this.

Behind her, the noises from the boy grow fainter and more heart wrenching, but Scorpia doesn’t have the heart to look back to him, eyes locked firmly on Hordak. Soon, she can’t bear it any more, and right as she’s about to throw everything away and stop this, Hordak raises a clawed hand.

Scorpia immediately turns the weapon off and pulls it away from the boy, who shudders, sobbing pathetically. Wordless noises of pain and despair escape from his throat as he hunches over himself, trying to be as small as physically possible. She wants nothing more than to comfort him, to hold him and tell him that no one will ever hurt him again, but she can’t.

So instead she keeps her gaze locked on Hordak. In the privacy of her own mind, he dies over and over again, tortured to death in the most painful and gruesome ways possible until he begs for it to end.

Behind her, she hears a pair of soldiers roughly pick the boy off the ground and drag him away, still sobbing and choking, but her eyes don’t leave Hordak. Not until he dismisses the gathered cadets and turns to leave, himself, does she finally allow her legs to give out on her.

 

When she returns to her room, Catra is waiting. By the look on her face, Lonnie has already told her what happened, and she wordlessly opens her arms, which Scorpia gratefully falls into.

Scorpia sobs herself to sleep in Catra’s arms, stomach churning with fear. Fear of Hordak, fear for what will happen to that boy now. But most of all, fear of herself.

She is afraid because when she imagined Hordak’s death, she enjoyed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in a bit of a creative mode after the most recent season so updates will probably be more frequent for a while! As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for your comments!


	18. A Prisoner, an Artist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia can't sleep after being forced to punish an innocent young boy, and decides to try and make things right.

Scorpia wakes up in the middle of the night. Every muscle in her body is stiff and sore, but still, she pushes herself so that she’s sitting on the side of her bed. She must have been dreaming but doesn’t remember it, because as soon as she opened her eyes, her mind had been made up.

She stands, making as little noise as possible, and stretches, twisting her back around to try and ease a little of the stiffness, but is stopped by a soft noise behind her. She turns, and meets a pair of eyes, blue and yellow, glowing faintly in the dark.

“Where are you going?” Catra asks, voice still heavy with sleep.

Scorpia frowns and reaches out to place a claw on top of Catra’s head. “I’ll be right back, there’s just something I have to do.”

Catra brushes away Scorpia’s claw and her eyes narrow slightly. “What are you going to do.”

Scorpia sighs and runs the rejected claw through her own hair. “There’s no need to worry, Wildcat. It’s just… I need to do this, ok?”

Catra’s eyes don’t leave Scorpia’s face, but she remains silent. Finally, she blinks once, slowly, and says, “it’s not like I could stop you, anyway.”

Scorpia shakes her head. She has to do this. No one, not even Catra, can stop her from doing this. She turns and heads toward the door, feeling Catra’s gaze on her back the whole way. She stops just in front of the door, and glances over her shoulder. “I’m going to make things better.”

 

Scorpia determinedly makes her way through the halls, doing various stretches as she walks and ignoring the protests from basically her entire body. This is nothing compared to how she felt after the first couple times she took on the training course at maximum difficulty.

At this time of night, even the Fright Zone is mostly empty, with only a handful of guards dozing off at their stations. Normally, she would be expected to chew them out for that, but right now she’s glad for it. It’ll make what she’s about to do much easier.

It isn’t long before she reaches her destination: the cell block where she’s almost certain the boy from yesterday is being held. She has no idea what Hordak is planning to do with him now, but she isn’t going to wait to find out.

The large door opens smoothly, and she steps out on to the catwalk that rings the inside of the cylindrical room. It looks like at this time of night, only a single person is in here, manning the control centre. Luckily for Scorpia, the bridge across is already in place.

She steps across and carefully opens the door. Peeking through, she sees that the guard is sitting, back to the door, playing some kind of game on a small screen. Scorpia snorts. Way too easy.

A flash of red, and the guard falls face-first to the floor, an almost invisible puncture wound on their neck. She steps inside, leaving the door open, and easily lifts them up and replaces them in the chair. They’ll probably just assume that they fell asleep.

With that taken care of, she turns to the large control panel. She runs her eyes over the forest of buttons and toggles, and her brow starts to furrow. Hesitantly, she touches a button, but it doesn’t seem to do anything whatsoever. Another button makes a small ‘bleep’ noise, but other than that, also does nothing. Scorpia scratches her head, confusion fully visible on her face at this point.

Luckily, a glowing screen catches the corner of her eye. When she goes to investigate, she finds that it’s a prisoner manifesto. With a grin, she scans the list. None of the names mean anything to her, but… There! ‘Cadet Brin, spreading treasonous imagery.’

She makes a note of the cell that he’s in. Thankfully, he’s on the same level as the control centre, so she won’t have to try anything stupid like climbing the cell block again. After double-checking that the guard is out cold, she steps out of the control centre and closes the door behind her.

She starts walking along the catwalk, eyeing the cell numbers and their inhabitants. Almost immediately, she sees him, and feels a little silly for having to look up the manifesto to find him.

He is curled up at the other end of his cell, back to the entrance. Even from this distance, she can see him shivering. She stops a moment in front of the yellow field, staring at his back. She wants to hate Hordak for doing this, but she can’t. She can’t blame anyone, not even Hordak, for this, because she’s the one who did it. It’s her responsibility.

She reaches out and touches the control panel, deactivating the field, which lets out a low whine as it vanishes. Brin freezes, and hesitantly looks over his shoulder.

“Who… wait, you?!”

She fights the urge to rush in to him, and instead stays where she is, arms raised to show that they’re empty. “I’m here to…”

He twists around so that he’s facing her and sits up, back against the wall. He holds one hand out, pupils tiny dots in his wide eyes. “Don’t! Stay away from me! Please!” his voice breaks on the last pleading word, and Scorpia feels it somewhere in her soul.

“Ok. I’m not coming any closer.” True to her word, Scorpia stays exactly where she is, arms still raised. The pair remain like that for a while, Scorpia’s soft gaze meeting Brin’s terrified one.

Eventually, Brin lowers his hand slightly. His voice soft, he asks, “why are you here? Are you going to punish me again?”

Scorpia shakes her head. “No, I’m not. I just want to get you out of here.”

“Why?”

Scorpia sighs, and her arms fall a fraction of an inch as she looks away from his eyes reflecting his confusion and fear. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I know that doesn’t mean much to you, but it’s true. I want to make it right, and the only way I know how to do that is to get you out of this cell, before you can get hurt any more.”

His eyes narrow. “How can I trust you?”

Scorpia sighs and places a claw to her forehead. “There was some kind of password, wasn’t there? Shoot, what was it again? I know that Lonnie told me…” She taps her foot, deep in thought for a moment, before bursting out, “aha! Got it!” she clears her throat and carefully says, “What’s at the ends of your fingers?”

Almost without thinking, Brin replies, “these are my claws…” He blinks as his brain catches up to the exchange that just happened. “You- you’re one of us?” His eyes flick down to her Force Captain badge.

Scorpia nods, a grin spreading across her face. “Yes! Well, kind of. It’s a little complicated. I’m kind of the leader? But technically I guess my friend is the leader, or at least she started it, but I asked her to?” Brin blinks in confusion and Scorpia shakes her head. “Ok, not important. The important thing is that we need to get moving before the guard wakes up. Can you walk?”

Brin still seems uncertain, but a glance around the cell he’s in seems to make up his mind for him. He pushes himself to his feet, wobbles slightly, but quickly finds his balance. He nods at Scorpia. “Let’s go.”

 

The pair quickly make their way out of the cell block, Brin still a bit unsteady on his feet but quickly gaining confidence. They move in short bursts, Scorpia peeking around corners to check the halls ahead before the pair run to the next bend. Pretty soon, they’re heading downwards.

Brin places a hand on Scorpia’s arm to stop her for a moment. “Hey. Where are we going?”

Scorpia blinks and looks back, then smiles and replies, “I have some friends down here. They should keep you safe for now.”

He glances around. “What kind of friends?”

“Well technically they’re slaves but they’re also sort of my subjects? Oh yeah, I’m a Princess, by the way.”

Brin blinks. A moment later, he shakes his head. “Ok, I guess that might as well be true, too.”

Scorpia grins and turns back around to check the next corridor.

Moving like this, they are quickly below the populated areas, and Scorpia stops bothering to move carefully like she had been.

“Make sure you don’t touch the slime,” she mentions as they clamber over a fallen ceiling tile.

Brin shudders. “I’m beginning to wish I stayed in my cell.”

Scorpia rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything. Brin lags behind, and she waits at an intersection for him.

“I’ve been wondering…” he says as he reaches her. She raises an eyebrow to prompt him to continue, and he says, “Is it true what they’re saying? That we’re going to actually fight Hordak?”

Scorpia nods. “Yeah. I’m not sure when, yet, but we are.” She pushes aside a sheet of metal that had fallen from the wall, and motions for him to go ahead while she holds it. “But hopefully, there won’t be too much fighting. I don’t want anyone to die if they don’t have to.” Hordak, though, is definitely going to die for what he’s done, she thinks, then immediately regrets it.

“Then what happens after?”

Scorpia shrugs and lets the sheet of metal fall back into place behind her. “I’m not here to try and take his place. No one is going to be forced to do anything. What someone does after that is up to them.”

Brin is silent for a while. Scorpia feels the silence lengthen, and decides to fill it. “So…” she thinks for a moment for something to say. “You’re the one who put up that art in Section 27B, right?”

Brin blushes. “You saw that?”

Scorpia nods over her shoulder, grinning. “Saw it and loved it! Where did you get that color?”

“Stole it from the assembly plant,” he says, a shy yet proud smile on his face. “Figured that was a better use for it than yet another insignia on a tank, right?”

“Right! Did you do any others?”

Brin nods, but then his face falls. “They’ve probably cleaned them up by now, though…”

Scorpia thinks for a moment, then slowly starts, “you know, I could probably get you details on where the cameras and patrols are, and I know I could get you more paint.”

Brin’s face lights up as he realizes what he’s offering. “Really? You’d do that?”

Scorpia chuckles. “Of course! I’d love to see more of your work, plus just imagine. You get punished, then disappear from prison and your art starts popping up everywhere in the Fright Zone! You’d be a legend!”

Brin blushes and stammers out an unintelligible response. Scorpia laughs again and shakes her head. At least he seems to have mostly gotten over what happened, more or less.

At last, Scorpia stops in front of the torn-open door to the mines. Brin looks at the hole, eyes wide. “What did that?”

“I did,” Scorpia responds, casually, then steps forward. She raises a claw and bashes it against the door, producing a satisfying banging noise that echoes up and down the dark passageway. She puts he claws to her mouth and yells into the hole “POPPYYYYYY!”

Brin looks at her curiously, but she doesn’t offer an explanation. She steps back a few paces and waits, her arms crossed over her chest. After a few minutes, she hears hurried footsteps coming up the passageway.

“Scorpia!” Poppy yells, breathlessly. “What’s happened? Is something wrong??”

Scorpia puts a claw out to calm her down, but lowers it once she remembers that she can’t see it. “Everything is fine, Poppy! Sorry for scaring you.”

Poppy stops by the door, leaning against the edge of the hole, panting heavily. “Then… what…?”

“I have a friend with me. I was hoping that you could hide him in Zarqa’s Forest for now.” Scorpia holds up a claw to stop Brin’s obvious question.

Poppy takes a moment to catch her breath, then responds, “is- is the Horde after him? Of course we’ll hide him, if he’s your friend.”

Scorpia smiles. “Thanks, Poppy.” She turns to Brin. “Poppy will lead you to somewhere where you can be safe from Hordak. I’ll be back soon with that stuff for you, ok?”

Brin glances at Poppy, then back to Scorpia, and nods. “Thanks, uh, Scorpia, right?”

Scorpia nods. Brin steps over to the broken door and through the hole. “Ok, Poppy, lead me to this ‘forest.’”

Poppy takes Brin’s hand and leads him down the passage, and the pair are soon out of sight. Scorpia smiles wearily to herself, and feels her eyelids drooping. Her mission complete, it suddenly hits her just how tired she is. She yawns and rubs her eyes.

“A Princess makes things better,” she murmurs to herself before turning away from the dark hole and starting back towards her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up on 100 Kudos! Thank you all so much, I am absolutely blown away by the positive responses this has gotten.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and criticism are, as always, welcome!


	19. Readiness, Apprehension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia meets with her friends one last time before they put their plans into action.

“And why, exactly, are we meeting here?”

Scorpia smiles at Lonnie. “I thought it would be a good idea to not have you and Entrapta keep coming to my room. Might be kind of suspicious, you know?”

Lonnie rolls her eyes, which then linger on the thing in the middle of the room. She shudders and tears them away. “Yeah, I get that, but why here, of all places?”

“I’m with Lonnie on this one,” Catra pipes up from her perch on top of a piece of wrecked machinery. “Shadow Weaver might be gone, but this place still gives me the creeps.”

“That’s why it’s perfect! No one comes here, so no one will overhear us by chance.” Scorpia really isn’t sure why everyone seems so spooked by this place, to be honest. Yeah, Shadow Weaver was pretty scary, but she’s long gone now. All that’s left here is the Black Garnet.

Scorpia is leaning against the runestone, enjoying the feeling of the warm surface between her shoulder blades. Her muscles are still a little sore from her various adventures, and the gentle warmth is soothing. Her three best – and only – friends in the world are scattered about the chamber, both Lonnie and Catra about as far from the Garnet as they can get.

Catra rolls her eyes. “Sure, whatever. Let’s just get this done so we can leave.”

“Alright, Wildcat. Lonnie, any progress on your end?”

Lonnie gives a noncommittal shrug. “Nothin I haven’t told you about before. I’ve got kids in the mess halls and the armories. They’ve been stealin a little bit at a time, so they don’t get caught, and I have some other kids takin’ it down to the mines. By now we shoulda got enough weapons to arm a whole battalion. Armor’s a lil harder to walk away with, but we’ve managed a couple dozen suits, a piece at a time.”

Scorpia’s grin broadens. “Nice job! The people down in the mines have been living off of mushrooms for years; it’s not like rations are the best thing for you, but at least it’s better than that. Full bellies make anyone braver, not to mention a weapon in your claw.”

Lonnie snorts and says, “yeah, whatever you say. These people better be all the effort my kids are goin through to feed ‘em and arm ‘em, is all I’m sayin.”

Scorpia’s eyebrows raise a little at ‘my kids,’ but she decides not to comment. Lonnie care about all this, or at least cares about the cadets, much more than she claims she does. She cranes her neck around the stone to where Entrapta is fiddling with one of the shattered machines at the base of the runestone. “What about you, Entrapta? How’s your project with the robots going?”

“Huh?” Entrapta glances around a moment, then flips her visor up when she sees Scorpia, a grin on her face. “Oh yes! My project!” She pushes herself off the ground with her hair and raises herself up so she’s eye level with Scorpia. “As you know, I’ve been installing remote-control receiver/transmitters in a selection of the robots placed in the Fright Zone, once activated, these will switch direct control over to me, while at the same time using the network to break nearby robot’s connection to the central control network and transfer it over to me! If my calculations are correct, the transmitters I’ve already installed will be within range of the entire robot population of the Fright Zone at a specific time every day, allowing me to control of every single robot at once!” She breaks into a delighted chuckle which soon evolves into a maniacal cackle, then suddenly stops as if flipped off with a switch. She looks at Scorpia expectantly.

Scorpia blinks. She hadn’t caught a word of that, but Entrapta seems happy so that must mean her work had gone well. “Nice job! I’m… glad to hear that it’s going well! Uh, you keep… doing what you need to do!”

Entrapta nods furiously. “Of course, a couple of the test models did explode, but that’s all part of the process! I put all the ones that exploded back together again, and no one even noticed! Probably.”

Scorpia smiles and shakes her head. “I’m glad to hear that. Again, good work.”

Entrapta, apparently done with the conversation, flips her visor back down and returns to work on the wreckage she had been tinkering with. Scorpia glances at Catra, smile fading.

“There is one more thing we have to worry about.”

Catra nods and says, “The rest of the Horde troops.”

Lonnie glances between the two of them, confusion on her face. “What do you mean?”

Catra pulls a knee up to her chest and hugs it close. “We have enough manpower to pretty easily deal with the soldiers here, in the Fright Zone. After all, most of them are the cadets in training, and according to you,” she glances at Lonnie, “the majority of those are going to be fighting with us, not against us. What we really have to worry about is the rest of them.”

Scorpia nods, face grim. “The garrisons outside the Fright Zone, and the forces out on the front lines against the Princesses. As soon as they hear the Fright Zone is under attack, they’ll all come rushing back. We’ll probably still have enough time to deal with Hordak and the loyal soldiers, but there’s no way we can hold the Fright Zone against that many. Yeah, they’ll probably destroy themselves with infighting as soon as they find out Hordak’s gone, but that won’t do us much good after we’re dead.”

Lonnie’s face has mirrored Scorpia and Catra’s frown. “So, what, we’re jus doomed? After all this, you’re jus sayin we’re doomed?”

Scorpia sucks in a breath through her teeth and glances at Catra before saying, “not exactly. I think I have a plan. Someone we can ask for help.”

Catra’s voice is deadpan when she responds, “I know what you’re thinking, and no. We are not going begging them for help.”

“Come on, Wildcat. You know we need help…”

“Not from them. I am not going to ask h- them for help.”

Lonnie glances between the pair, following the verbal tennis match. “Wait, wait, wait. Who are we askin for help?”

Catra, still glaring at Scorpia, growls, “she wants to go running to the Princesses for help.”

Lonnie, shocked, looks to Scorpia, who sighs and presses the side of her claw to her forehead. “I don’t like it either, but we don’t have much of a choice! If we don’t get someone to at least distract the front-line forces…”

“No. There is no way I’m going to beg them for help. I’m not going to beg her for help.”

“Then you don’t have to! Let me do the begging!”

“I refuse…”

Scorpia slams her claw against the runestone, creating a resonant noise that causes everyone’s hair to stand up on end. Even Entrapta looks up from what she’s doing in surprise. “We have to do this! We have done too much, risked too much, to give up now! This is our only chance! Please, Wildcat, you have to see that!”

Catra blinks in shock, then her frown returns. “And how do you know they won’t just keep on going and walk right up to the Fright Zone? It’s not like they like us, either.”

Scorpia drops her arm to her side and sighs. “If they had the power to do that, they would have already. Yeah, they’ve gotten in here before, but not with an army. They don’t have the strength to punch through the front lines and actually threaten us, here.”

Catra’s frown eases as a realization dawns. “You don’t actually want them to break the front lines, you just want them to throw themselves at them so that they don’t come down on us.” Her lips break into a grin. “You’re using them.”

Scorpia rubs the back of her neck. “Well I guess when you put it like that, yeah. Once we’ve dealt with things here, we can send a message to the troops out there. No one’s coming to help them from the Fright Zone, and they’re under attack by the Rebellion. At that point, even the most loyal person to Hordak will follow me as long as I promise to protect them from the Princesses, right?”

Catra shakes her head, chuckling. “That’s devious! I love it.”

Scorpia blushes at the compliment and waves it away with a claw.

Catra’s laughter subsides after a moment, and she furrows her brow. After a little thought, she cautiously says, “…but how do you know that the Princesses will go for it?”

Scorpia shrugs. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? I doubt they could resist a chance to make sure that Hordak gets what he deserves.”

Catra nods, thoughtfully. “This might actually work.”

Scorpia’s face breaks into a relieved grin. “Good, because I’ve already sent them the message!”

Catra blinks, face falling to neutral as she processes what was just said. “What.”

Scorpia smiles disarmingly and holds her arms out. “Well, I knew that it was the only way that this whole coup thing was going to work, and I wanted to leave plenty of time for it to get to them! Plus, I wasn’t sure that you’d like this, so I didn’t want you to be annoyed with me if you caught me writing it after you told me not to.”

Lonnie throws her head back and laughs uproariously. Catra turns and glares daggers at her, but she doesn’t care, and just keeps laughing, leaning fully against the wall to keep herself from falling over. Eventually, her laughter turns into a light chuckle, and she wipes some tears from her eye. “Whoo! The- the look on your face!”

Scorpia tilts her head and looks up at Catra. “That’s… ok, isn’t it, Wildcat?”

Catra’s ear twitches. She is silent a moment, but then says, “Did you forget? I’m not Force Captain any more. You don’t have to do what I say.” Her expression is complicated. On the surface, there’s a little frustration, but underneath that is something else.

Scorpia examines Catra’s face for a long moment, searching for whatever that hidden something is, but she can’t figure it out, and looks away. She stretches, groaning as the heat from the runestone against her back helps to relieve a little tension. “If you two want, you can head out,” she says, casually. “I have something I want to talk to Entrapta about. You know the way back, right, Wildcat?”

Catra turns to look up at the vent in the wall above her. “Yeah, I remember it.” She tilts her head back to lock eyes with Scorpia over her shoulder. “You’re going to make sure that I can take a shower soon, though. Those vents are disgusting.” She shudders.

Scorpia snorts. “Yeah, ok. Come on, I’ll give you a lift.” Scorpia pushes away from the runestone and moves over to Catra. She holds out an elbow, and Catra clambers onto her shoulders. She perches there, tail swaying. She momentarily loses her balance, but latches onto Scorpia’s shirt with her claws, causing the larger girl to wince. She moves as quickly as she can over to the wall without risking Catra falling. From her vantage on her shoulders, Catra’s climb up to the vent is easy. The grate shuts behind her, and all Scorpia can see is her eyes, two pools of yellow and blue in the dark.

“Thanks,” she says, and the eyes disappear.

Scorpia nods, grinning, and turns back around. “You should go too, Lonnie. Someone might wonder where you are.”

Lonnie shrugs. “I’m goin. Jus wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything else, I guess.” She turns towards the door. “It’s freezin in here, anyway.”

Scorpia doesn’t watch Lonnie go, and instead steps over to Entrapta and squats down next to her. Even from here, she can feel the comforting warmth of the stone. “Hey. Hey, Entrapta.”

Entrapta glances up, red eyes of her visor meeting Scorpia’s. “Oh? Yes?”

Scorpia glances up at the Garnet, then back to Entrapta. “There’s actually one more thing I wanted to ask if you could help me with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long! I've been travelling and just now got some time to write. Next chapter is the last before the big showdown, so be ready! Thank you for reading, as always!
> 
> EDIT: AAAAAH!!! 100 Kudos!!! Thank you all so so much!!!


	20. The Calm and The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night before the uprising that Scorpia has been planning for months, and she can't sleep. Both she and Catra have something to confess, and before the morning comes, everything will be different...

It is nighttime in the Fright Zone, and all is quiet and still. Some are relaxed, convinced that nothing worse than a surprise inspection is due for them in the morning. Others wait in readiness, trying to get some rest before all hell breaks out in less than twelve hours.

As for two Force Captains, one current and one former, they can’t sleep.

Scorpia can feel blue and yellow eyes follow her as she paces back and forth. She glances over at the bed, where Catra is sitting, one leg against her chest and tail swaying from side to side. She tears her gaze away and keeps moving. Moving and thinking. Everything has to go perfectly tomorrow, or it won’t just be her who suffers for it. Everything has to go well. It has to. Everything needs to be planned out, or-

“Hey,” Catra’s voice cuts through the fog of circling thoughts. “You’re making me sick doing that.”

Scorpia’s feet stop mid-stride, but she doesn’t look towards Catra. “Sorry, Wildcat. I’m just thinking.”

Catra cracks a half-grin and jokes, “yeah, I can smell the smoke from here.” When Scorpia doesn’t respond, her smile fades. “Hey. Hey! Look at me.”

Reluctantly, Scorpia looks at Catra’s toes, still avoiding her gaze. Catra’s brow furrows.

“What is going on with you?”

Scorpia shrugs, her eyes shifting to the side. She folds her arms across her chest and mumbles, “just going over the plan for tomorrow.”

Catra’s frown deepens even further and her tail twitches anxiously. “Pacing around and dwelling on it won’t help anything,” she muses, “I should know that.” She sighs, eyes shutting slowly, and reaches out to pat the bed next to her. “Come on. Sit down.”

Scorpia hesitates, but she quickly acquiesces. Her shoulders slump and she walks over to the bed, carefully taking a seat about a foot away from Catra. Catra’s head tilts to the side and she stares at Scorpia’s face in profile, waiting for her to say something. Scorpia groans and rests her elbows on her knees, hiding her face in her claws. “I just… what if something goes wrong? What if the plan – my plan – isn’t good enough, and I get everyone killed, or worse?”

Catra turns away from Scorpia, gaze moving to examine the wall. She thinks for a moment, then finally says, “then everyone’ll be dead, and we won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Scorpia turns her face slightly to peek at Catra. “That isn’t helping,” she mumbles.

Catra shrugs, drawing her other leg up to her chest and hugging them both. “It’s hard to worry about the future when you’re supposed to be dead. Besides,” her eyes drift shut and she tilts her head forward to rest her forehead on her knees. “I don’t plan to stick around to see what happens, anyway.”

That gets Scorpia’s attention. Her head jolts upwards, and she looks at Catra, eyes wide. “Wait, what?”

Catra shrugs, head still down. “I’ve been getting stronger. I can walk a fair distance on my own now. As soon as the fighting starts, I’m going to sneak out. Get away from all of this. Get away from everyone.”

Scorpia looks down at her claws. “Oh.” She swallows, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Where are you going to go?”

Another shrug. “Nowhere in particular. Maybe I’ll steal a boat, see what’s across the ocean.” Her voice grows chilly as she says, “might pay a visit to… someone, before I go. Have a chat.” The word ‘chat’ is layered with undertones suggesting that it might involve more claws than talking.

Scorpia nods slowly. “Well I uh, I hope you find someo- somewhere, I mean, that makes you happy.” She sniffs, heavily. Her vision is getting blurry. “Does that mean… this is goodbye?”

“Yeah, I guess this is.”

Scorpia takes a deep breath, then lets it out in a long sigh. Her heart feels like it’s stopped completely. Her claws tremble, and she takes another shuddering breath. Keep it together. If this is what she wants, then it’s what’s going to happen. Wildcat gets what she wants. Wildcat always gets what she wants.

But…

But what about what Scorpia wants?

Scorpia abruptly stands, her entire body shaking with tension. Catra looks up at her, startled, but only sees the back of her head.

“Why…” The low question, almost a whisper, catches Catra off guard. She blinks in confusion, but her question is cut off by a sudden shout from Scorpia.

“Why am I ever good enough for you?!?” She whirls around and locks gazes with Catra, teary eyes both accusing and pleading. She swipes her claws through the air. “No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I’m never good enough! Before, it was always Adora and, and now you’re just, what, running away? Don’t you understand? All of this,” she gestures wildly with her claws, “all of this has been for you! So that you didn’t have to run away, so that I wouldn’t have to lose you!!” she suddenly deflates, voice dropping from her previous shout, “so that you could stay here, with me.” She sighs and runs a claw through her hair. “If you wanted to. Which, I guess, you don’t.”

“Scorpia, I…” Catra is silenced by Scorpia holding up a claw.

“Just- just don’t. You’ve made it clear how you feel about me. I’m just an idiot for thinking that could change.” Scorpia sighs, slumping over. She gestures towards the door and continues, “if you’re going to go, there’s no point in waiting for the morning. There’s the door, I won’t stop you.”

Catra’s eyes flick over to the door, but she stays where she is. She pulls her legs closer to her chest, squeezing them tight with both arms. She tries to look Scorpia in the face, but finds that she can’t. Instead, she stares at her feet.

Scorpia’s eyes narrow. “What are you doing? I told you to go. Isn’t that what you want?”

Catra shakes her head.

“Then what do you want? Please, Wildcat, just tell me what you want! Stop- stop doing this to me!”

Catra swallows and wets her mouth. “I… I don’t know what I want.”

“You sounded pretty sure just now.”

“I was… I don’t know!” She sighs and runs a hand through her mane of hair. “I guess I just don’t want to get hurt again.”

Scorpia shakes her head, confused. “What do you mean? I could never hurt you.”

“They always say that. They always promise you everything. They promise to never leave. But they do, and they take everything with them.” She sniffs and rubs her palm into her eye.

“You’re talking about Adora.”

Catra doesn’t respond. Scorpia sighs and moves back to the bed to sit next to her, resting her elbows on her knees. She stares at the floor between her feet.

“You know, if I was going to leave you, I would have let them send you to Beast Island.”

Catra shifts slightly, turning away from Scorpia, but doesn’t respond otherwise.

“I’m never going to leave you. I’m not going to promise that, because you won’t believe me anyway. But it’s true. You’re incredible. You make me so happy. You’re- you’re my best friend.”

Catra hunches her shoulders, still not looking at Scorpia. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do!”

Finally, she turns back toward Scorpia, tears in her eyes. “How could you mean that? You- you’re so much better than I am. You care so much. You’re smarter than anyone gives you credit for, even yourself. Me? I’m just… I’m just broken. Why do you waste your time on me? Why do you go through all of this for me?”

Scorpia turns her body to Catra, and meets her gaze. “Do you really not know?”

Catra, wide-eyed, shakes her head.

“Because I love you, Wildcat.”

Catra stares at Scorpia for a long moment, eyes widening even further, until finally, her tears overflow and with a soft, drawn-out wail, she shuts them and falls forward into Scorpia. She wraps her thin arms around the larger woman and clings to her like her life depends on it. Scorpia, after a moment of shock, pulls Catra into her and holds her tight, letting her ride out this storm in the safety of her arms.

 

It takes a while for Catra to be able to speak coherently. The whole time, Scorpia keeps her in a secure embrace, whispering small words of encouragement and stroking her back softly. Eventually, hiccupping and sniffing, Catra speaks again.

“You- I- me?”

Scorpia smiles and nods. “Yes, I mean it, Wildcat. With all my heart. I’ve meant it for a while. I love you. I want to spend my life with you, if you’ll let me.”

Catra nods into Scorpia’s chest. Her words are muffled against Scorpia’s body, but Scorpia can just barely make out the word ‘yes.' It takes her a moment, but as soon as she realizes that Catra just agreed, she feels her heart soar and squeezes Catra tight, grinning like an idiot.

When Catra makes a small pained noise and pushes against her, Scorpia blinks and releases her from the hug. “Oops! Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.” Her smile widens even further, if possible. “I’m just so happy!”

Catra brushes herself off, then glances up at Scorpia before looking away again. She shrugs and says, “well it sounds better than a boat, anyway. I just remembered that I get seasick.”

Scorpia shakes her head, but her smile doesn’t lessen. “It’s ok. You don’t have to say it back. I understand. It’s enough to be with you.”

A slight tension in Catra’s shoulders is released with an almost inaudible sigh. She looks down at the floor and whispers, “thanks.”

Scorpia nods. She looks away from Catra and stares at the wall, humming happily. After a moment, she suddenly says, “you know, I don’t think I’m as worried about tomorrow any more. No matter what happens, I’m just glad you’ll be there with me.”

Catra makes a noncommittal noise, then looks up at Scorpia’s contented smile. She looks thoughtful for a moment, then starts shifting. Scorpia looks over at the noise and sees her sitting up against the headboard of the bed, legs crossed. She reaches out and takes a hold of Scorpia’s claw, blush visible under her fur. She looks away from Scorpia and says, “come on. No matter how good you feel, you need sleep. Everyone is counting on you.”

Scorpia blinks in surprise, but then a shy smile crosses her face, accompanied by a deep red flush. Hesitantly at first, she shifts further onto the bed, then turns herself and lays down so that her head is in Catra’s lap. She gazes adoringly up at Catra’s face, a huge grin on her face.

Catra looks down at her, blush deepening by the minute, and frowns. “What’s with the goofy look?”

Scorpia closes her eyes and shakes her head. “It’s nothing. You’re just beautiful is all.”

If Catra’s face wasn’t covered in fur, it would be bright crimson by now. As it is, her normal orange-brown is looking fairly more orange than usual. She mumbles, “shut up,” but it’s halfhearted. Almost perhaps to cover up her embarrassment, she starts to run her fingers through Scorpia’s hair, nails lightly scraping her scalp, occasionally brushing her fingertips across the short-shaved sides.

Scorpia chuckles, but doesn’t say anything else. She takes a deep, contented breath.

Catra sighs. “Hey.” Scorpia opens her eyes to look at Catra again. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Your plan’s a good one. There’s no way it won’t work.”

Scorpia smiles. “Thanks, Wildcat.” Her eyes drift shut again, and her breathing starts to slow. Catra continues to gently play with her hair, and Scorpia drifts off into a happy dream.

Catra cocks her head and looks down at Scorpia’s peaceful face. She bites her lip and glances around, then back down at Scorpia. After watching a moment to be certain that she’s actually asleep, Catra leans down so that she’s close to her face. She caresses her cheek thoughtfully, then finally says it.

“I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They said it! They said it! They're in loooove!
> 
> Anyway, sorry about the wait for this one. The next one is probably going to be extra long, but that might just mean an even longer wait, I'm not sure yet. But don't worry, there's going to be at least one chapter, maybe two after that, so this is going to keep going for a little while, at least. Thank you so much for reading! As always, I appreciate your comments and feedback.


	21. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come. Plans go into motion, and the Fright Zone is plunged into rebellion.

The mess hall is strangely subdued. An odd energy, a kind of tense watchfulness, fills the air and has infected everyone in the room. It’s so pervasive, in fact, that as Scorpia looks around the room, she has no clue who is on her side, and who has simply picked up on the mood.

To be honest, she really isn’t sure that she has any allies in the room at all.

She’ll just have to wait and see.

She picks up her tray of food without really looking at it, then turns to walk back towards the center of the hall. Hushed conversation surrounds her as she scans the room. Her eyes meet Lonnie’s, sitting at a table next to a silent Kyle and Rogelio, and they share the tiniest of nods. She allows her eyes to drift shut, and she takes a deep breath.

They had chosen this specific time and this specific mess hall for a very specific reason. She opens her eyes, and there she is. Just like every day before, at this exact time, Force Captain Octavia sits at an otherwise empty table, reports spread out in front of her as she eats her lunch.

Scorpia walks up behind Octavia as quietly as possible. The other Force Captain is absorbed in her work and doesn’t notice her until she announces herself.

“Hey, Octavia. I have something for you.”

“Huh?” Octavia grunts, turning around in her seat to look at Scorpia.

She doesn’t answer, instead drawing her arm back and throwing the tray full of food into Octavia’s face, covering her in lukewarm gruel. She sputters and recoils, and in that moment, Scorpia reaches behind herself and unclips a stun baton from her uniform. With a motion practiced from years of training, she activates it and jabs the crackling spines into Octavia’s neck. Octavia’s eyes go wide and she opens her mouth, but all that escapes is a guttural chocking noise before she pitches forward, landing face-first on the floor.

The entire mess hall goes completely silent. Scorpia can feel scores of eyes on her, and she takes a deep breath.

No going back now.

She raises the weapon above her head and, in her best captain yell, cries, “FOR THE CAT’S CLAW!”

For a long, dreadful moment, the room is still.

Then in one motion, dozens of concealed weapons flare to life, and everything is chaos.

It’s over in a moment. The loyalist troops, unarmed, don’t stand a chance against the Cat’s Claw. Soon, their unconscious bodies are piled up next to Octavia’s, and a rough circle has formed around Scorpia. She looks around, and for the first time notices how young they all are.

They’re just kids. Kids whose lives Hordak has destroyed, who have been raised to kill or be killed. For a split second, she regrets bringing them into this, but she shoves it aside.

Instead, she says, “good work. Get all of them tied up somewhere and leave a few to guard them. The rest of you are going to follow me, ok? Do you all have your uniform?”

A chorus of affirmations sounds out all around her. She does a quick scan, taking note of the blood red bandana that each of them is wearing, either around their neck or tied to their arm or wrist. According to Entrapta, those would somehow keep them all safe once the bots turn and she sets them to search and destroy. Scorpia trusts Entrapta’s word.

She nods. “Good! Come on, and remember, we aren’t murderers. Don’t hurt anyone who surrenders.” At the dark looks on some of their faces, she adds, “well, at least not too badly, ok?” Even if they are just kids, they were still raised in the Horde. Honor is a foreign concept to them. “Right then, let’s go!” She starts towards the door, and the mob of cadets-turned-traitors shuffles to follow.

Lonnie pushes her way to the head of the group and falls into step next to Scorpia. “So. This is it, then.”

Scorpia nods, glancing at Lonnie out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah. This is it.”

“You ready?”

“Not at all.”

Lonnie sorts, “yeah, me neither. Well, shall we?”

 

The ragged group starts off through the corridors. As they move, turmoil spreads through the Fright Zone around them like an infection spreading through blood vessels and tissue. Small groups break off down side passages, weapons clutched tight to ambush guard patrols. Lonnie takes about half the cadets down a set of stairs towards the mines to link up with the people down there and bring them back up.

Despite this, the mass behind Scorpia only keeps growing. More and more cadets, hearing or seeing that the time has come, tie a bandana round their neck and join the throng. Scorpia isn’t sure how many of them were on her side before today, but she doesn’t care. That’s what this is about, anyway. Rising up, fighting back, breaking the chains. Every time she looks over her shoulder and sees the faces of those behind her, she feels hope.

Before long, she rounds a corner and sees Lonnie ahead of her. She has a similar force behind her, made up of a mix of Horde soldiers and former slaves, wielding an eclectic mix of standard-issue weapons and repurposed mining gear. They meet halfway, just in front of a large blast door.

“Nice turnout,” Lonnie observes.

Scorpia nods, chuckling. “I’m honestly stunned. Isn’t this incredible?” She peers over Lonnie’s head at the Scorpians and other miners behind her. One of them waves, and she waves back. “Have any issues down in the mines? How’s Poppy doing?”

“She’s fine. She and Brin are stayin down there with anyone who can’t fight until it’s safe up here.”

Scorpia nods. “Good.”

Lonnie places one hand on her hip and jabs the other thumb at the door. “So, we doin this, or what?”

“Right.” Scorpia steps in front of the door, Lonnie next to her. The two groups merge around them, and Scorpia raises her voice to be heard. “Alright! There probably won’t be too heavy of a guard but keep an eye out for reinforcements! I want all these cells opened up in ten minutes, then we’re moving out again, got it?” She waits until she’s satisfied everyone understands, then turns to open the door.

As soon as it’s open, she moves in, her strange mix of followers right behind. They very quickly deal with the guards, and some head into the control room, while the rest disperse throughout the cell block. All around, doors slide open and force fields shut down, letting prisoners loose, some of whom haven’t walked freely for years or decades. Rebel soldiers, Horde turncoats, rogue criminals, all of them are released equally. For now, old rivalries and grievances are forgotten, and agreements are made to focus on a common enemy.

As for Scorpia, she immediately takes the lift down to the lowest level. Lonnie stands next to her, and behind them, some of the older Scorpians from the mine. The lift comes to a stop at the bottom, and Scorpia steps off towards the one cell that she came here for. This time she doesn’t have to bother with an Entrapta invention, and simply presses the key to open the door.

Darius is already standing, obviously waiting for them. A broad smile crosses his face as he steps out, into the arms of the people he fought so hard for, so long ago.

Scorpia stands off to the side, watching the reunion with an odd wistful look. The Scorpians cluster around Darius, talking with all the excitement of long-lost friends. In between murmured replies to exuberant greetings, he happens to glance at Scorpia. His face changes somewhat, and he politely excuses himself to stand in front of her.

For a moment, they stare at each other in silence. Then, he falls to one knee, bringing his claw to his chest in a salute. “Captain Darius, formerly of the Royal Guard, reporting for duty. I await your command, your highness, Princess Scorpia.”

Scorpia blinks, stunned into complete silence. Behind Darius, the others whisper amongst themselves for several moments, then follow his lead, dropping on to one knee and pressing their claws to their chests. Still completely flabbergasted, Scorpia glances at Lonnie for support.

“I ain’t gonna kneel, if that’s what you’re thinkin,” she says, an edge of humor just obscuring her own uncertainty.

Scorpia shakes herself out of it and steps forward to place a claw on Darius’ shoulder. “You don’t have to do that. Really, please don’t. I’m… I don’t think I deserve that.”

A smile quirks the corner of Darius’ lip. “I disagree, Princess. Look around. Look how much you’ve done already! I knew you would take us to freedom, and you have. I will follow you anywhere.”

Scorpia feels a blush creeping up her neck as she struggles to find a response. Finally, she simply whispers, “thank you.”

Darius nods, then gets to his feet. He looks to Lonnie. “I assume you are her Second?”

Lonnie looks from Darius to Scorpia, who nods. Lonnie grins, folding her arms across her chest. “That’s right.”

He nods. “Very well. My people will listen to me, but I am not so sure the others will. Shall we lead them, together, in the coming battle? Something tells me,” he looks to Scorpia, “our Princess has another battle to fight.”

Scorpia nods, grimly. Lonnie rolls her eyes. “I am never gonna get used to people calling you that. Come on, Captain, before the kids get too restless.”

Scorpia watches them take the lift upwards and rally the troops, now swelled by the freed prisoners. As they start to filter out into the halls once more, she scratches an itch at the back of her neck. Her mind drifts to Entrapta. By now, she should be in place, already working her scientific magic. Scorpia probably won’t see her until this is all over, but she still silently wishes her well.

 

The hallways are quiet, other than the distant sounds of fighting. Scorpia moves with purpose, quashing the fear rising in her gut with the pounding of her legs and arms.

Everything up until now has gone off perfectly. Most of the Fright Zone is held by the Cat’s Claw, and now the fighting is limited to small pockets of resistance. There hasn’t been any sign of Grizzlor, but that’s nothing to worry about. Personally, Scorpia is fairly sure that he fled as soon as the fighting started, the coward.

No, the biggest threat at this point isn’t the Horde’s army. It’s Hordak himself. From an early age, all Horde soldiers are taught to view him with a mix of fear and awe. Regardless of his actual strength, even just his presence might be enough to make most of her cadets surrender. He has to be dealt with, and Scorpia is going to be the one to deal with it.

She rounds a corner, and there, in front of her, is her destination. An open archway, followed by a narrow bridge and a massive door, proudly emblazoned with the Horde’s icon. Hordak’s sanctum.

Scorpia steps under the archway, but hesitates. Beyond that door, the evil that has haunted her entire life lies in wait. The creature that killed her family, stole her birthright, and abused her Wildcat. Only a few short steps, and she can make it all right.

But she’s afraid.

Suddenly, from behind her, a voice calls out, “Scorpia! Wait!”

She turns, and is surprised to see Catra, running down the corridor towards her. Almost without thinking, the tension goes out of her shoulders and a smile crosses her lips at the sight of her.

“Wildcat! What are you doing?”

Catra comes to a stop next to Scorpia, panting heavily. She leans over, hands on her knees, and struggles to regain her breath. “I… I just… I wanted to see you… kick his ass…”

Scorpia giggles, but her face quickly turns more serious. “I thought we agreed that you’d stay in my room until this was over? I mean look, you can barely run! What if you’re attacked??”

“Stop… that… I’m fine! Stop… stop worrying.” Catra straightens back up and gives Scorpia a cocky grin, but her chest is still rising and falling like a bellows.

“But…”

“I’m not going to just wait for you to finish him off while I hide, ok? It’s just not going to happen.”

Scorpia examines Catra’s face, then gives up with a sigh. “Ok, Wildcat.”

Catra nods. Scorpia shakes her head, smiling, and turns back towards Hordak’s sanctum door, her confidence renewed. She steps across the bridge and stops in front of the door. “You ready?”

When Catra doesn’t respond, Scorpia turns back around, concern all over her face, to see Catra standing where she had been, eyes locked on the door. Her pupils are tiny black slits, shivering slightly, as her ears lay low against her head, her tail lashing erratically behind her.

Scorpia moves back to her side and gently kneels in front of her, blocking her view of the door. “Hey,” she says, softly.

Catra takes a shuddering breath and closes her eyes. She shakes her head and stutters, “n- no I can’t I can’t…”

“Hey, it’s ok. You don’t have to. You stay out here, ok? Stay out here and wait for me. I’ll be right back, ok?”

Catra nods, eyes still squeezed shut. Scorpia reaches out and pulls her into a quick hug, then turns and stands.

“I’ll be right back. I promise.”

She walks back across the bridge and opens the door before she can second guess herself. She steps into the darkness beyond and it slams shut behind her, almost cutting out a murmured question from Catra.

“You promise?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long! School has really kicked my ass the past week or two.
> 
> This was originally going to be the beginning of an extra long chapter to mostly close out the conflict, but then it got so long, that I decided to split into four regular-sized chapters, so keep an eye out for those real soon!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and as always I appreciate your comments!


	22. Cat's Claw, Scorpion's Tail, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time for the final showdown with Lord Hordak has arrived. Scorpia has prepared as best she can, but it might not be enough to challenge the master of the Horde.

“Force Captain Scorpia. I was wondering when I would have the pleasure of seeing you.” Hordak’s voice, artificially magnified, rings out across the chamber from where he sits on his throne.

With a deep breath, Scorpia pushes down the pit of fear forming in her stomach. She sets off towards Hordak’s dais with a determined stride, remaining silent.

Hordak rises from his throne, contemptuous smirk visible even from this distance. He begins the descent down to the ground floor, heavy footsteps ringing out and echoing throughout the room. “You are foolish, coming to me. Only one fate awaits traitors, and I am happy to deliver it to you.”

Scorpia can’t help the words from rising from her throat. “You won’t hurt anyone else ever again, Hordak! I’m going to end you, here and now.” The effect is only slightly ruined by the tiniest quiver in her voice.

Hordak scoffs, “what do I care for the pain of insects? I am a conqueror! Much like this pathetic planet, you persist in your absurd resistance, and like this world, you will bow to me before your end.” Hordak comes to a halt at the base of the stairs and crosses his arms.

Scorpia slows, then stops, still some distance from him, her legs suddenly unwilling to move any closer. She swallows, trying to keep her breathing under control. She feels a tingling sensation, like sweat running down the back of her neck, and her mouth sets in a hard line. Her feet plant in a wide stance as she raises her arms into a guard position. Hordak bares his fangs in a cruel grin.

“I see you are ready to die. Allow me to indulge you.” With that, he suddenly twists his stance and pushes off from the floor, sending his armored form rocketing towards where Scorpia waits for him.

Scorpia just barely manages to get her claw up to intercept a knife-handed blow that probably would have broken her neck. As it is, the impact sends shock waves through her entire body, causing her footing to slip just slightly.

Hordak doesn’t give her any time to recover, driving his other fist towards Scorpia’s core as swiftly as a striking snake. She leaps backward, but not quickly enough, and the blow drives home, and though softened somewhat, it still leaves her gasping.

Before Scorpia has even found her footing, Hordak is on her again. He lashes out with a roundhouse kick that snaps several of the spines on her arm and sends her stumbling across the floor. A clawed hand cruelly grabs her hair and drives her face downwards into his knee. Pain explodes from her nose with a crunching noise, and she immediately knows it’s broken.

The grip on her hair releases, and Scorpia stumbles away, clutching her nose, trying in vain to stop it from fountaining blood. She sways upright and turns back to face Hordak. Through a haze of pain, she sees him chuckling at her, standing where he was, a splatter of blood on his knee.

Briefly, she hesitates. What had she been thinking? There’s no way she can even challenge him. He’s going to leave her as a stain on the floor, and then everyone else will die, too. Even Catra.

She shakes her head. That’s not going to happen. She removes her claw from trying to stop the flow of blood from her nose and raises both her claws in front of her. Her eyes meet Hordak’s and she does her best to translate all of her hatred of the creature in front of her into a glare. He just shakes his head and laughs at her.

He takes a step forward, and Scorpia braces herself for his next attack.

But it doesn’t come.

As soon as his foot hits the floor, his entire body freezes. Hordak’s face shifts from a gloating grimace, to confusion, and finally to rage. He growls, obviously straining against some invisible force; however, all he manages to produce is a slight shiver in his arm.

At that moment, a crackling, hissing noise fills the room, followed by a voice, tinny and distorted, but still very recognizable.

“HahahaahAHAHA! IT WORKED! Science one, Hordak zero!”

Scorpia blinks and drops her defensive posture out of surprise. “Entrapta??”

 

Entrapta uses her hair to spin her chair around, cackling happily. Every time she comes around, she sees the grainy, fuzzy footage of the throne room from the camera she had installed earlier, and her laughter redoubles. She raises a device to her mouth and, pressing a button, says over the loudspeakers, “ingenious, isn’t it? Unfortunately, there were some pretty nasty firewalls around his armor’s control systems that I hadn’t accounted for, so it took a little longer than expected; however, I broke through them, and I now have full control over his movements! What should I make him do? Should I make him dance?”

She abruptly stops her spinning and returns to the makeshift console she had set up in her current base of operations. Behind her looms the Black Garnet, practically encased in a tangle of new wires and machinery that has been built into, and on top of, the wreckage already surrounding it. Over on one side of her workspace, a data readout shows all of the Horde bots under her control as well as their status and coordinates. On the other, a running stream of text details the status of yet another project she’s working on but hasn’t quite worked out the kinks of quite yet.

Her fingers and hair both move to the control panel and play over the keys, quickly entering an arcane sequence of commands and values. On-screen, the figure of Hordak suddenly straightens, then raises his arms above his head. He claps, once, twice, thrice, then leaps into a lively jig. Entrapta throws her head back and starts laughing all over again.

“YOU WILL REGRET THIS INSULT!” Hordak’s scream of rage comes through the display, loud enough to make Scorpia flinch, but Entrapta is unfazed. She simply reaches over to hit a few keys, and Hordak’s hand clamps over his mouth, reducing him to muffled incoherency.

Entrapta leans over to the microphone and says, “I was trying to talk to my friend, so be quiet now. We can continue the experiment after, ok?” Her voice is bright, despite the mildly disturbing implications.

“Entrapta?” Scorpia is still standing where she was, watching the feared leader of the Horde dance around the room with a slack jaw. “How did you…?”

“Oh, it’s quite simple! I modified the machinery that repairs and dons his armor so that it would replace a few key components with a device of my own design, similar to the transmitters I’m using to control the bots, but much more powerful!”

At that moment, a small pop-up notification appears on Entrapta’s screen. She frowns and leans toward the screen, only to see that the text is just a nonsense series of letters and numbers. A second one joins the first, quickly followed by a third. More and more start to appear, filling the screen with meaningless strings and random glitches.

“Fascinating! It appears that his armor has an automated defense system which releases a number of quite interesting viruses onto an attacker’s computer!” She blinks. “Which is very, very bad.” Before the viruses lock up her computer completely, she grabs the microphone and yells into it, “sorry, but I’m having a couple of issues! I should have control again in just a moment!”

 

“Entrapta?” Scorpia glances up at the shadowy recesses of the ceiling. “What’s wrong?”

“I would not worry about her right now.” Scorpia’s eyes go wide and she whirls around to see Hordak standing still once more, murder in his glare. “I will deal with her soon enough. First, however, you will die.”

Scorpia doesn’t waste any time on surprise and starts to move immediately. If she stays on the defensive like she has been, he’s going to crush her like a bug. She charges him, keeping her center of gravity low. He smirks at her dismissively and starts to step to the side.

Scorpia’s tail suddenly lashes at his face in the direction of his step, forcing him to stop his movement and block the blow with his bracer. With Hordak occupied, she accelerates, lowering her shoulder, and slams into his gut, driving the air out of his lungs with a hiss. She follows through by wrapping her arms around his torso, locking him in a tight grip.

Hordak growls and swats her tail away. He then raises both arms above his head, locking his fists together, and brings them down on Scorpia’s back. She winces, but the blow, weakened by a lack of breath, isn’t enough to break anything. She brushes off the pain and plants her feet. A long groan escapes her throat as she strains, lifting Hordak off his feet as she uses her legs to straighten herself. He lets out a slightly panicked-sounding grunt and continues to beat his fists against her back. She ignores the blows, and, as soon as she’s upright, allows herself to fall backwards, letting both her weight and Hordak’s slam his head into the metal floor.

As soon as she feels Hordak go limp from the impact, she releases her grip and scrambles away, pulling herself to her feet, panting heavily. Her arms ache in concert with her abdomen, but she doesn’t listen to them. This isn’t over yet.

Hordak groans, clutching his head, and pushes himself up, stumbling to his feet. Thick, inky blue blood seeps between his fingers, and when he pulls his hand away, covers his palm. He growls at her, glowing eyes narrowed in hatred, and takes a step forward. As soon as his heel touches the ground, though, he freezes in place, shaking visibly.

“Haha! Got it! Wait- no no no!” Entrapta’s voice rings out of hidden speakers for a moment but is quickly cut off. As soon as the speakers crackle out, Hordak starts moving again.

“Why must I be beset by insects?” he growls as he advances on Scorpia. He reaches up and wipes a rivulet of blood away from his eye, flicking it away contemptuously.

Without warning, Hordak suddenly breaks into a run, closing the distance between himself and Scorpia before she can react. He draws back his fist and sends it hurtling towards the side of Scorpia’s face, but it halts in the air mere inches from her cheek. He grunts, trying to force it forward, but when it remains solidly in place, lets out a scream of rage. Scorpia looks from his face and his fist, wide-eyed, before letting out a small relieved laugh and a smile. She steps backward just in time for his fist suddenly start moving again. It swings through the empty air in front of her, leaving him entirely open to a powerful uppercut that sends him spiraling backwards.

He quickly stumbles to a halt, rubbing his jaw. He pauses for only a moment, not bothering to gloat or taunt, before pulling himself up to his full height. Scorpia narrows her eyes and drops into a boxer’s pose, tail arched over her back, ready to strike.

He takes a step, beginning to circle around Scorpia’s side. She turns with him, keeping him directly in front of her, watching his every moment. Like corrupted footage, his movement starts and stutters, pausing for just a moment before continuing, but never long enough to get a hit in.

They continue like this for a long, tense moment, circling each other warily, watching for any opening. Sweat beads on Scorpia’s forehead, mixing with the blood covering her face, but she doesn’t dare try to wipe it away. They are at a stalemate.

Until a sudden, painful twinge at the base of her neck, like a needle being jammed into her skin, causes Scorpia to flinch. It’s all the opening that Hordak needs, and in a moment, he’s on her.

Scorpia does her best to block the flurry of blows that rains down on her. She manages to catch the worst of it on her exoskeleton, but her shoulders and upper arms are quickly covered in bruises. She retaliates the best she can when he freezes, straining against artificial muscles which aren’t obeying his command, dodging back and driving her elbow or her claw into his side or knocking aside his outstretched arm. Unfortunately, the pauses are infrequent and random and seem to be getting shorter each time.

No matter how hard she pushes herself, she is only flesh and blood, and she can’t keep this up forever. All it takes is a slight lag in her exhausted muscles, a block that is just a moment too late. Hordak delivers a sharp knife-handed blow to her collarbone, and there is an audible snap and an explosion of white-hot pain.

Scorpia gasps and steps backwards, but has no way to block the next blow, which catches her under her chest with a horrific crunch. She coughs, folding around Hordak’s fist. Through a haze of red, she can just barely see a spatter of bloody spittle on his arm and, as if from a great distance, idly muses that that is not very good.

Hordak pulls his fist away, leaving Scorpia to fall unceremoniously to her knees, eyes dim and unfocused from the pain. His eyes are half-lidded as he looks down on her, hand still clenched into a fist. After a moment, apparently satisfied that she is finished, his lips part in a small, satisfied smile.

“I must admit, you gave me a little more trouble than I had expected, Force Captain. Truly, you have impressed me. A pity you decided to waste yourself on this fruitless pursuit.” He reaches down and grabs Scorpia’s neck, claws digging into her skin slightly. “You. Have. Failed. Luckily for you, you will not have to live with that failure for long.”

Scorpia struggles to focus on his face. She blinks, trying to clear the mist from her eyes, and reaches up with her one good arm to try and close her claw around Hordak’s wrist, but there is no strength left in her.

Hordak almost seems amused by her struggle at first, but it quickly turns into annoyance. His grip tightens, cutting off her breathing, and her arm falls back to her side. “Pathetic, just like everything on this worthless planet.”

As Scorpia’s vision dims and fades, she doesn’t think of Hordak, or the planet, or even her family. Instead, her mind drifts to Catra. She thinks of her laugh, of her smile, so elusive, of the softness of her fur against Scorpia’s skin. As her mind wanders in what she is sure are her last moments, Scorpia can almost hear her voice…

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! Whoo! So! This was supposed to go up last week, along with the next two chapters, but then con happened and I didn't have time. So! This is a little late, sorry about that, but we should have daily uploads pretty much until the end of the fic, more or less. So look forward to that! Anyway, thank you for reading, and thank you for your comments!


	23. Cat's Claw, Scorpion's Tail, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia is beaten and bloodied, and Hordak stands triumphant over her. Unfortunately for him, something more powerful than fear is at work...

Catra paces on the bridge to Hordak’s sanctum, arms folded tightly across her chest. She tunes out the sound of fighting which rings out across the Fright Zone, the clashing of metal mixed with electrical discharges and screams of pain.

Her ears twitch. She glances at the massive, imposing doors emblazoned with the crest of the Horde, but tears her eyes away. Just the thought of the other side of those doors sets her stomach boiling and her fur standing on edge as she’s overcome with terror and barely recalled memories. Almost to remind herself that she can, she takes a deep breath and resumes her pacing.

She rubs her upper arms and, when that isn’t enough, lightly digs her claws into her skin. She hates leaving Scorpia to do this alone, but she just- she can’t…

A scream cuts through her thoughts. Her ears prick up, rotating towards the door, as if to pick up the lingering echoes of the sound. That was Hordak, she’s certain of it. Does that mean that…? Did Scorpia do it?

The silence from the other side of the door is deafening. Anxiety rises in Catra’s throat as she imagines all the horrible things that could be going on in there. She takes a step towards the door, but hesitates. Even just the thought of opening that door causes her lungs to tighten up. She swallows and closes her eyes.

Come on, Catra. Stop being a coward. You’ve dealt with fear before. Force yourself to breathe. What if Scorpia needs you? Are you going to just stand by and lose everything again?

She opens her eyes, brow set in a determined line. She forces herself to take a step, and then a second, and a third. Each step is more difficult than the last, but she doesn’t let that stop her. She reaches out towards the door but stops just short of opening it. She pauses for a moment, her tail twitching behind her.

Another deep breath, and she closes the last of the distance to open the door.

It takes her eyes a moment to figure out what’s going on, but as soon as they do, they go wide. Hordak is standing over Scorpia, hand closed around her neck. In a moment, everything goes away, and her entire world is reduced to two people.

The woman she loves, and the man who’s about to kill her.

A low growl escapes her from deep in her chest, quickly rising to a desperately angry, “GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Without any conscious thought, her legs propel her forwards, and she leaps, claws outstretched, over Scorpia, landing heavily on Hordak’s chest, driving him away from Scorpia and breaking his grip on her neck. Without giving him time to react, she digs in and climbs upwards and around so that she is sitting on his shoulders, behind his head, legs wrapped around his neck.

She draws her hand back, extending her claws to their full length before bringing them down in a long arc to drag them across his face. He throws his head back and howls in pain, almost knocking her from his shoulders. She prepares for him to try to throw her, but his body freezes, turning still as a statue. She doesn’t waste time to wonder why and instead goes to work, lashing her claws across his face, growling and hissing.

Silently, Catra begs Scorpia to be ok. Please get up. Please just stand up and run away. I can’t lose you so please, please, please get away from him.

Suddenly, Hordak starts moving again. Before Catra can react, he reaches up and grabs her by the back of her neck, dragging her off of his back and swinging her around so that she’s dangling in his outstretched hand.

His glowing scarlet eyes glare into Catra’s blue and yellow out of a face in tatters, strange blue blood leaking from every gash. She stares back, certain that he is about to kill her, but she finds herself strangely calm. Hopefully she bought Scorpia enough time to get away. Even if she didn’t, though, at least they’re going to die together, here. Somehow, she finds that she’s ok with that.

That doesn’t mean that she’s going to go quietly, though. In one last act of defiance, she grins in Hordak’s face, baring her fangs, before swiping once more with her claws, adding yet another set of jagged lines to his face.

Hordak’s face contorts with fury and, with a wordless growl of rage and pain, he swings her like a sack of potatoes, throwing her across the room to slam into a wall. He stands there a moment, panting heavily, before he closes his eyes and cracks his neck, seeming to regain his composure.

A small cough from where Catra landed causes him to raise an eyebrow and turn towards her. She is slumped at the base of the wall, eyes half closed, blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes meet Hordak’s and she grins again, but is interrupted by another cough, more blood spilling out of her mouth.

He looks at her, curiously, and starts to walk towards her. “That should have killed you instantly,” he says, almost accusingly.

Catra shrugs, wincing at the motion. “Well… you know what they say. Cats always… land on their feet.”

He shrugs. “You will be dead soon enough.” He glances over his shoulder towards where Scorpia is still on her knees in the center of the room. “Both of you will. And then this ridiculous insurrection will be over.” He comes to a stop standing over Catra’s slouched form, gazing down at her with a sneer on his face. “I should have known it would be you. Force Captain Scorpia was never more than a convenient tool. There was no way she could have organized this herself. I see now that this was your doing.”

Catra laughs but it quickly turns into a hacking cough. He scowls at her and opens his mouth but is cut off by a sudden word from Catra. “You’re wrong.”

He blinks, and his brow furrows. “What did you just say to me?”

She grins. “I said that you’re wrong. You’ve always been wrong, about everything. Honestly, it’s kind of embarrassing. I mean, this entire thing happened right under your nose, and you never had a clue, did you?” She cocks her head, grin widening. “But mostly you’re just wrong about Scorpia. She’s so much more than anyone knows. And you know something else?” Her gaze drifts away from Hordak to look behind him. “You’re still underestimating her.”

Before he can demand to know what she means, an icy chill runs up his spine, and he freezes, not from Entrapta’s hack, but from sheer shock. His eyes open wide as a voice rings out behind him, tone low and dangerous.

“You won’t touch her again.”

 

Scorpia stands, bathing in the warmth of the shadows lapping at her feet and leaping up at her as if greeting a long-lost friend. Lines of fire trace every nerve in her body from the device that Entrapta had placed at the base of her neck, humming along with the new-found connection to the lightly modified Black Garnet. Even though one arm hangs limply, even though her face is covered in a disgusting mixture of snot, blood, sweat, and spit, even though each breath is more labored than the last, Scorpia stands and stares down the source of all the pain she has ever felt in her life.

Compared to all of that, what she’s feeling now is nothing.

Hordak blinks. He looks her up and down, taking in all the brutal damage that he’s already done to her, then smiles and starts to laugh at her. With barely a twitch, Scorpia pulls his own shadow out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. For a moment, he looks dumbfounded, an almost comical look on his face, before growling and leaping to his feet.

Scorpia doesn’t wait for him to come to her. She pulls at the deep shadows all around her, and to her delight, they respond easily and naturally, like flexing a muscle she’s always had but never thought about. As Hordak starts to charge her, she is already shaping them into something that just makes sense.

By the time Hordak is halfway across the room, Scorpia’s shadow has slunk along the floor towards him until it is practically wrapped around his feet. Like an ink drop in water but in reverse, it pulls away from the floor in a dark cloud, then solidifies. Hordak’s eyes widen and he tries to stop himself, but it’s already too late. A solid black scorpion tail, made real through years of pain and helplessness, rears back and strikes with a stinger the length of a sword, crackling with scarlet lightning. It sinks deep into the flesh in his side, and he stumbles, then goes rigid as the magic leaves him paralyzed.

Scorpia takes a step forward, and the shadowy tail splashes back to the floor, running in rivulets back to Scorpia’s feet. She takes another step, her gaze evenly meeting Hordak’s as he struggles against the magic holding him, the muscles in his jaw and neck visibly working as he tries to spit some insult. A third step brings her face to face with him.

She looks into his eyes, searching their glowing depths for something. Maybe a hint of regret, or an ounce of compassion. But she finds nothing. Nothing except rage, and contempt, and maybe, just maybe, deep in there, fear.

When she imagined this moment, late at night when Catra was asleep and she was running over the plan in her head, she had thought that she would say something. Something clever, or something cool, something to really impress Catra maybe. But now, looking into those eyes, she decides against it.

He doesn’t even deserve that.

A stream of blackness rushes up his body, fluid ribbons running up his legs, his torso, and finally to his neck.

Scorpia turns and moves past him. Behind her, there is the sound of a snap, followed by a metallic thud, as of something large and heavy hitting the floor. She doesn’t spare a second glance. Right now, only one thing is on her mind.

“Catra!” Scorpia breaks into a shuffling run, sucking in as deep breaths as the pain will allow. She winces each time a step jostles her shoulder, but right now she has much more important things to worry about.

Catra’s eyes blink wearily open, and a lazy smile crosses her face as she spots Scorpia. “Hey, Scorpia,” she manages in a faint impression of her usual playful tone.

Scorpia falls to her knees at Catra’s side. She uses her good arm to scoop Catra’s upper body up and off the floor. Catra winces, and Scorpia gasps, “oh my gosh, are you ok? Where did he hurt you? How bad are you hurt? Is- is that blood? Do you need me to get you a medic? Do you think Entrapta knows anything about medicine? Probably not but who should I get?”

“Scorpia,” Catra easily cuts through the babbling stream even though her voice is weak. She coughs, then wipes her mouth of the thin trickle of blood dripping from its corner so that Scorpia can’t see it. “Be quiet, would you?” Catra is thoughtful for a moment, then continues, “there’s… there’s something I gotta tell you. Can you lean in a little closer? I don’t want you to miss this.”

Scorpia nods, keeping her mouth shut tight. She leans over Catra, getting close enough to even hear a whisper, ignoring the fresh protests from her ribs and her shoulder for now. “What did you want to…?”

Catra rolls her eyes and reaches up to grab the back of Scorpia’s neck. Using Scorpia’s solid form to pull herself upwards, Catra leans upwards into Scorpia’s face, and presses their lips together.

Scorpia’s eyes widen in shock, then flutter closed as she melts into the kiss, her entire brain filled with fireworks. Catra’s lips are unbelievably soft, with just a hint of an iron taste, though that might just be from her own blood. The fur on her face tickles Scorpia’s lips, but she doesn’t mind. In fact, right now she’s finding it hard to think about anything except the feeling of Catra’s lips on her own.

It’s messy, its bloody, it’s by no one’s standards incredibly romantic. But despite all that, Scorpia wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s everything she could ever have wanted in a first kiss, and more.

Eventually, Catra pulls away, but not before nibbling slightly on Scorpia’s bottom lip, pulling on it with her teeth. Scorpia makes a small, sad noise in her throat as Catra leaves, and her eyes open slowly.

Catra grins wickedly and places her forefinger against Scorpia’s lips, leaning back into her arm. “There, now. Honestly, you are adorable when you worry about me, but I am in a lot of pain right now so let’s be quiet, ok?”

Scorpia blinks and nods, which elicits a chuckle from Catra, before her eyes suddenly roll upwards in her head and her entire body turns to boneless jelly.

“Catra? CATRA??”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ding-dong the Dictator's dead  
> Wicked Hordak's deaaad!
> 
> Oh and you know, Catra kissed Scorpia but that's less important, right?
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading, comments are as always appreciated!


	24. Aftermath and Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak is dead. The Horde armies are standing down. Now, all that's left to do is to tend to their wounds and work towards the peace to come.

Catra claws her way back to consciousness, dragging herself out of the murky depths to an unbelievably bright light. She shifts, making soft noises of protest, before finally kicking herself in the ass. She opens her eyes slightly and is immediately assaulted with maybe the brightest light she’s ever seen in her life. It seems to enter her pupils and stab straight through her retinas into her brain. She groans and shuts her eyes tight again.

She hears movement beside her and, after a moment of weighing the pros and cons, decides to try the whole opening her eyes thing again. She opens them a tiny sliver, but it’s still too much light. Luckily, a massive silhouette blocks the offending brightness.

“Catra?! You’re finally awake?” Her ears twitch in protest at the sudden cannon blast of a voice, but she can’t help the soaring feeling in her chest. She’s ok, after all…

“Yeah,” Catra says, her voice a hoarse croak. She tries to swallow to wet her throat, but her mouth is drier than the Crimson Waste.

“Oh, shoot! They said that you’d be thirsty when you woke up, here…” Catra feels the neck of a bottle pressed to her lips, and she greedily sucks down the fresh, clear water, spilling all down her chin in the process. It’s kind of warm, but she’s never tasted anything better in her life.

Well, her brain supplies her with at least one thing she’s tasted on her lips that was better, but she bats it aside, thankful that her fur normally covers up her blushes. She can’t let Scorpia know that she had actually enjoyed that kiss, after all. It might encourage her, and then who knows what kinds of ideas she’d get into that thick skull of hers.

Like hand holding. Or, even worse, long walks on the beach.

“I am so glad that you’re ok! After Hordak threw you across the room and then you kissed me and then you fell unconscious, I was so worried…” Oof, there it is. Time to nip that in the bud.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She can feel Scorpia’s surprise even without seeing her clearly yet. “You don’t… you don’t remember what?” The fear and grief in her voice breaks Catra’s heart, but she’s already committed.

“The kiss. Never happened. You must’ve hit your head too hard or something. Imagined something.” She shuts her eyes tight and leans back in her pillow to avoid looking at Scorpia.

 

Scorpia feels her heart fall through her stomach. They had said that even though Catra had hurt her head pretty bad, there probably wouldn’t be any more memory loss. Her eyes scan Catra’s face, then fall to the side with a sigh. “Well… ok then, if you say so. I’m going to go tell Entrapta that you’re awake. We’ve both been so worried about you.” She shoots Catra a smile, more for her own benefit than anything else, and turns to leave.

A grip on her claw stops her. She looks back at Catra, surprised. She’s laying exactly as she was, but now her hand is wrapped tightly around Scorpia’s claw. She feels her heart lift, and a gentle smile crosses her face as she understands.

She steps back to the bedside and, careful bend at the hips and not the torso, leans over Catra’s shut-eyed face. “Don’t worry, I can keep a secret,” she whispers, before planting a slight kiss on Catra’s forehead. Catra sighs, and her entire body seems to loosen up.

Scorpia straightens back up and laughs, “but you know, I don’t think there’s much of a secret to keep. I mean, my lipstick was all over your lips when I carried you out of Hordak’s sanctum.” Catra curses under her breath, and Scorpia throws her head back and laughs. She quickly stops and winces, though, as her ribs start to scream at her. She gently extricates her claws from Catra’s hold and uses it to rub her side, the other currently being immobilized by a sling.

“You know, Entrapta says that being connected to a runestone means I heal faster, but I’m not really noticing that? Maybe broken bones just take a long time. It hurts, though! I can confirm that.”

Catra looks Scorpia up and down. “He did a number on you, huh? I’m… I’m really glad you’re ok, though. When I saw you in there…” she clears her throat, blinking away tears. She looks away and mumbles, “I thought I had lost you.”

Scorpia smiles softly and places her free claw on Catra’s shoulder. “It’ll take more than that to keep me away from you, you know that?”

Catra glances at her and nods. “Yeah.” She smiles back. “So!” she forces her voice to brighten, “how long until I can get out of bed, huh?”

Scorpia’s face falls. “Yeah, about that…”

Catra picks up Scorpia’s concerned tone and her eyes narrow. “What. What is it?”

“Well the good news is that you’re going to be mostly ok! You didn’t have any internal bleeding, you just kind of bit your tongue, so that’s good. A little bit of a concussion, but pretty much everyone in the Horde has had much worse.”

Catra nods slowly, eyes still locked on Scorpia’s. “That’s not all, though, is it?”

Scorpia shakes her head sadly. “No, it isn’t. When Hordak threw you into the wall, it did a bad number on your back…” She runs her claw through her hair and lets out a sigh. “The good news is that Entrapta has been rambling about, like, bio-mech-something-or-other that might help? But even if anything comes out of that… you might never walk again.”

Catra blinks. Her eyes drift down to her blanket-covered legs, a strange look on her face.

“But- but, hey, it’ll be ok! Entrapta has also been working on this weird chair thing for you? She was going to give it wheels but the last time I checked on her it had these big spider legs and I think maybe I saw a laser cannon, which I told her you probably didn’t need but she just said that there was extra room and it fit so well…”

“Scorpia.”

Scorpia falls silent.

Catra looks up at Scorpia, a small smile on her face. “Don’t worry about it.”

“But…”

“No, really. I’m ok, I think.”

Scorpia blinks, then straightens up. “Are you… sure?”

Catra nods again, slowly. “Yeah, I think I am. Honestly, I expected to be dead, so this is an improvement, right? Besides…” Her brow furrows. “Before, when I wasn’t sure if I’d ever walk again, I thought I was alone. But I’m not alone anymore! You’re here, and you’ll always be here.” A grin creeps up her face. “As long as you’re here next to me, I’m sure I can take anything.” She blinks and her smile falls. She groans, slapping a palm to her face. “Oh no, now I’m starting to sound like you.”

Scorpia chuckles, “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”

Catra groans again and pulls her pillow up and covers her face. Her voice muffled, she says, “I changed my mind, please someone kill me before I start talking about the power of friendship.”

Scorpia raises one eyebrow. “Oh, friendship, is it?” She leans over close to the pillow. “You sure there isn’t a better word for it?”

Catra groans, getting another laugh from Scorpia. She takes the pillow in her claw and pulls it away, then silences Catra’s resulting protests with her lips. When she pulls away, Catra glares at her. “That isn’t fair.”

Scorpia laughs, “All’s fair in love and war, and technically, we’re still in both, right?”

Catra swallows and looks away. Scorpia’s face falls.

“Hey.” She lays down the pillow and uses the tip of her claw to tilt Catra’s face towards her. Reluctantly, she meets Scorpia’s eyes. “What I said before is still true, you know. You don’t have to say it back. I don’t mind.”

Catra holds her gaze for a moment, then nods. “Thank you.”

Scorpia smiles, then moves in for another kiss, which Catra gratefully returns. Catra is the one to break the kiss this time, pushing Scorpia away. “Wait, so, we’re still at war?”

“Technically?” Scorpia stands up, then turns to sit on the side of Catra’s bed. “I mean, I ordered the rest of the Horde armies to stand down, and most of them listened, and then I asked the Princesses to stop attacking for right now, and they also listened, so I guess we’re in a sort of cease-fire. There’s some official peace talks next week that I need to go to before the war is officially over, I think. I don’t know. I never really learned how ruling worked? So, I’m doing my best but it’s all really confusing and Entrapta is the only other Princess here, but she never really did much ruling, either.”

Catra blinks. “Ok, so I think I got most of the important parts of that. You’re going to talk to the Princesses next week?” Scorpia nods. “Then tell Entrapta to get to work on that chair of hers so I can go with you.”

“So you can… Wait, what?”

“You heard me. There’s no way I’m letting you talk to the princesses alone. No offense, but they’ll tear you apart. You’re too nice to negotiate. Sometimes you have to be a little mean.”

“Awh Catra you’re not…” Catra holds up a finger to interrupt her.

“Thank you, but I’m not exactly nice, am I?” Scorpia thinks a moment, then slowly shakes her head. “See? You need me. Plus, the faster Entrapta makes that chair thing, the faster I can get out of this bed, and I am already so done with it.”

“I mean, if you really feel that way…”

“Good, then it’s decided.” Catra’s lips twist into that familiar cocky grin. “You really are cute when you worry about me, you know that?”

Scorpia feels a blush start to rise on her cheeks, and she glances away bashfully. Catra giggles.

“Now go on! I probably need to sleep, and you need to go get Entrapta to focus long enough to finish the chair. It’s probably also best if you don’t let her put a laser cannon on it. Might send the wrong impression.”

Scorpia blinks. “Oh, yeah… You’re right.” She suddenly looks panicked. “Oh no… I think I heard her mentioning something about heavy artillery…” She pushes herself off the bed and turns to leave, but turns back around and leans over to plant another quick kiss on Catra’s cheek. “I’ll be right back, Wildcat! You get some rest!”

Catra chuckles and watches Scorpia run out, a faint smile on her lips. She shakes her head, then settles back into her pillows. Her eyes drift gently closed, a smile still on her lips as she sinks into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is day three of daily posting? I'm proud of that! In theory, the next (and last) chapter will come out tomorrow, and then after that I have an epilogue planned!
> 
> Thank you again for reading, and for your comments!


	25. Negotiations and the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Hordak dead, Scorpia goes to the Princess Alliance to negotiate for peace.

The ashy scrublands that separate the Fright Zone from the Whispering Woods ripple under a gentle breeze. The peace is disturbed, however, by a speeding skiff skimming just above the grass, kicking up clouds of gray dust in its wake.

Scorpia holds the tiller in her good claw, eyes scanning the horizon for the agreed-upon landmark. Near the fore, Catra sits in her chair, four mechanical legs folded underneath.

“How much further?” she calls out over the rushing wind.

“Not too much, I think! I’m probably going to set down a little ways away from the meeting place, though. Don’t want to send the wrong message by running them over with a skiff.”

Catra shrugs languidly. “I don’t know, might be fun. We might not even have to negotiate after that, you know?” At a look from Scorpia, Catra giggles, “just kidding!”

“You going to be ok with a little bit of a walk, though?” Scorpia glances down at Catra, concern in her gaze.

“Yeah, sure. This chair thing is alright, though I did find a hidden compartment that was full of tiny cupcakes that I wasn’t sure if I should eat.”

“But you ate them anyway, didn’t you?” Scorpia asks, one eyebrow raised.

Catra puts on an innocent look. “Why would you think that?”

Scorpia laughs, shaking her head. “I’m sure Entrapta put them there for you. I found a bunch of them in my room the other night. She probably got the urge to bake at midnight, or something.”

“To be honest I wasn’t sure she had made them, since they were actually edible.”

Scorpia thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “Maybe Hordak had a cupcake recipe in his files that she found?”

Catra snorts. “Now I really hope she didn’t make them. Knowing Hordak, they would probably be made out of poison and child labor.”

Scorpia rolls her eyes, but her grin widens. She glances down towards her feet, where a burlap sack rests, tied off with a string. She nudges it with her toe, then returns her attention to where they’re going. Right then, something appears on the horizon.

“There!” She pulls on the tiller, causing the skiff to swerve close to the eaves of the Whispering Wood, then evens back out so that they’re following the tree line. Ahead of them, a large white standing stone slowly grows in the distance. The plains suddenly dip down into a shallow valley, and Scorpia chooses to stop there, pulling up on the tiller to apply the brakes.

“Well, here we are,” she says cheerfully, but the edges of her voice are strained. Catra glances at the ridge separating them and the meeting place, concern on her face.

“You going to be alright?” she asks, turning back to Scorpia.

Scorpia swallows and nods. “Yeah. I’ll be ok.” She shuts down the skiff’s power, then kneels down to pick up the burlap sack. Catra eyes it.

“Is that…?”

Scorpia nods. “Yeah.”

Catra lets out a low whistle. “I guess that’s one way to negotiate.” She taps a control on the arm of her chair, and the contraption hums to life. It gets unsteadily to its feet, rocking Catra back and forth. “Whoah! Ok, remind me to talk to Entrapta about making that less terrifying when we get back.”

Scorpia chuckles. “What was it that she called it, again?”

Catra rolls her eyes. “Chairmily, or something stupid like that.”

“I think it’s cute!” Scorpia walks to the edge of the skiff, and gently lowers herself to the ground, careful to not jostle her shoulder or her ribs.

“Yeah, sure.” Catra fiddles with a joystick, causing Chairmily to dance back and forth for a bit before clambering down off the skiff. She groans, “these controls are so finicky…”

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of them,” Scorpia reassures. She makes sure that Catra is ready to go, then starts up the ridge, sack in claw. Catra follows behind her, the spider-like legs of her chair strolling at a gait that keeps the chair perfectly steady.

The pair crest the ridge, and below them, they see that the others have already arrived, sitting around a massive tree stump that serves at a table. Most of them Scorpia has seen in person, but the woman sitting roughly where the head of the table might be, she’s only seen in propaganda.

Scorpia whistles. “You know, I didn’t expect the Queen to be here.”

Catra eyes the table, then groans slightly. “Of course she’s here, and her new friends, too.”

Scorpia glances at Catra. “You going to be ok?”

Catra nods, resolutely. “Yeah. Come on, let’s just get this over with.” She pushes the joystick forward, and Chairmily starts down towards the Princess Alliance, Scorpia not far behind.

 

Scorpia can feel the Princesses hostile gazes long before they reach the table. When they’re still several feet away, she hears the voice of probably her least favorite person in the world call out to them.

“Catra! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Adora, didn’t you hear? There’s going to be a negotiation soon.” Catra shoots her old friend a lopsided grin.

“That’s not what I meant…”

The purple-haired Princess, Sparkle, maybe, chimes in. “She means, this is supposed to be a negotiation between Princesses. You are not a Princess.”

Scorpia steps in front of Catra and stares Sparkle down. She points an accusing claw at the boy next to her, she thinks his name is Arrow?

“If you’re allowed to have him here, then I can bring Catra.”

“Bow is my friend!”

“Catra is mine!”

She opens her mouth to retort, but is stopped by a raised hand from the Queen. “Enough. I will not begin this peace negotiation with such outright hostility. Catra may stay, if she so chooses.”

Scorpia blinks in surprise. Unsure of what to do, she decides to bow as low as her ribs will allow her. “Thank you.” When she straightens back up, she thinks she catches just a hint of amusement on the Queen’s eyes.

“Now then. I believe the agreement was that Princess Entrapta would be in attendance?”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry. One second…” Scorpia reaches into a pocket of her uniform and produces a small data pad. “Uh… Catra, could you…?” She hands the pad to Catra, who taps it a few times before turning it around to face the Princesses.

“Hallo!” The video feed shows Entrapta seated at a desk, working furiously on something on the computer terminal in front of her. “Sorry for not being able to be there in person, but I’ve been working on decoding all of Hordak’s files! The methodology is crude and the conclusions drawn lack in imagination, but I have already found multiple interesting opportunities for further research!”

Scorpia smiles gently at Entrapta before lowering herself slowly into an empty seat. “I also brought a gift,” she says, dropping the sack she’s been carrying on the table.

The Princesses eye it warily for a moment before one – Makeup? Lipstick? – waves her hand, causing a thick green vine to grow rapidly, wrapping around the sack and carrying it to the other side of the table.

Adora grabs it and opens it just a fraction, peeking in with one eye. She rears back, glaring at Scorpia. “What is this? A joke? A threat?”

Scorpia matches gazes with her evenly. “Like I said, it’s a present.”

Sparkle grabs the bag, also peeking in. “Is this… him?”

Adora nods. “It’s Hordak.”

She sticks her tongue out in disgust. The one who Scorpia is pretty sure is the Pirate Inspector’s girlfriend looks at the bag out of half-lidded eyes. “Unless he’s a lot smaller than I thought he was, there’s, like, no way that bag can hold all of him.”

Scorpia shrugs. “Entrapta said that, since his head is the only part of him that’s entirely organic, she didn’t need it for… whatever she’s doing with it. I thought it was better not to ask.”

“Ah yes! One of my multiple projects currently involves investigating the inner workings of the bio-mechanical musculature and neural interface which provided him with his strength and speed! His alien biology is also quite fascinating, did you know that his heart has six chambers? I can show it to you!” She vanishes and there is the sound of rummaging from somewhere offscreen.

“Please, Entrapta, no one wants to see that,” Catra groans.

“Awh, are you sure?” She sounds genuinely disappointed.

A ripple of unease runs through the Princesses. Scorpia grins internally. This is exactly what she was hoping would happen. Put them on the back foot.

The only one unaffected seems to be the Queen. She simply steeples her fingers and gazes at Scorpia over them. Scorpia swallows. She really can’t read her, and that terrifies her.

Finally, the Queen speaks, gesturing towards the burlap sack containing Hordak’s head. “We can dispose of – that – when we return to Bright Moon. For now, we have business to attend to. So, Force Captain Scorpia…”

“Princess,” Catra’s voice suddenly rings out, interrupting the Queen.

“Pardon?”

“She’s a Princess, isn’t she? She’s your equal in all of this nonsense. Maybe it’s time you started to start treating her like it.” She stares the Queen down, gaze steady and even.

“Catra…” Adora starts, but is interrupted by the Queen.

“Peace, Adora. She is correct. Scorpia is a Princess, and deserves all the respect that that title brings. Especially as the Princess who ended Hordak’s reign of terror. My apologies, Princess Scorpia.”

Scorpia blinks in surprise, then smiles gratefully at Catra, who winks in reply. She turns back to the Queen. “Thank you, your Majesty.”

The Queen nods, then continues, “Now, as I was saying, Princess Scorpia. This war has gone on for far too long, and has taken too many lives. It is high time we ended it, without further bloodshed.”

Scorpia nods. “I agree.”

“According to your messages, you have a number of… requests, to be included in the agreement?”

Another nod. “Yeah, that’s right. I actually have all of that written down, here…” She unclips a tube from her uniform and rolls it across the table. The Queen places a hand on it to stop it, then picks it up and opens it. She retrieves the scroll from inside and unrolls it, eyes scanning the page.

“This is very… thorough.”

“I’ve been working on it for a while.”

The Queen clears her throat and begins to read aloud, “all Horde armies will immediately be disbanded… fortifications will be vacated by the Horde, to be used by the Princess Alliance as they choose…” She raises an eyebrow. “The Princess Alliance agrees to not punish any Horde Soldier for actions during the war, and all Horde prisoners will be released in exchange for the release of all Rebel prisoners.”

Sparkle huffs. “There’s no way that you’re serious.”

Scorpia meets her eyes. “I am. Most of the Horde were raised to be soldiers from birth; they don’t know anything else. Punishing them for what someone else did to them would be wrong.”

“And what about all the people they’ve killed!?”

Scorpia feels a pit of anger open up in her stomach. “And what about the blood on your hands, Princess? How many child soldiers have you killed, do you think? Should I demand that you be punished for that, too?”

“Glimmer! Princess Scorpia!” The Queen’s voice cuts through the argument. “Stop this at once!”

Glimmer scowls, but sits back in her seat. Scorpia lets out a sigh, forcing herself to relax as well. “As part of the agreement, the Horde promises to punish any one who did anything especially bad, especially former officers. Is that enough for you?” she asks, tone icy.

It isn’t Glimmer who replies, though, it’s Adora. She had been looking thoughtful while all of this was going on, and she finally speaks up. “I agree with Scorpia. I used to be just like the rest of them, remember? We should give them a second chance, like you gave me.” That sends murmurs around the Princess side of the table. Scorpia sees Glimmer pull Adora down to whisper furiously in her ear, but doesn’t pay much attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Catra rolling her eyes at Adora, and has to suppress a giggle.

After a moment, the Queen puts an end to the whispered conversations. “Very well. Princess Scorpia, we shall consider your requests.” She glances towards the scroll, and continues, “I see that there is also a section on territorial claims…”

Scorpia nods. “That part is easy. Basically, we give up any and all claim on lands outside the bounds of my family’s former kingdom, except for the lands surrounding Dryll, and…” she sighs. This isn’t going to go down well. “A portion of the Horde-occupied area of Plumeria.”

“Absolutely not!” The Makeup Princess bristles. “You invade my home, drive my people away, and now you want to keep what you stole?”

Scorpia frowns. “Without that land, my people will starve. The Horde has no other access to fresh food, unfortunately, so until we are able to start farming ourselves…”

“It’s not my fault that you people burn and kill everything you touch…”

“Calm yourself, Perfuma. Princess Scorpia, while I sympathize with your plight, you can not truly expect the Plumerian people to agree to such an arrangement?” The Queen turns from Perfuma to Scorpia, face unreadable.

Scorpia nods. “I understand that this is a big thing to ask. That’s why I’m willing to welcome any Plumerians displaced by the Horde invasion to return to their homes, without submitting to Horde authority. I also promise that, as soon as the Horde is able to support itself with its own farming, those lands will be returned to you. How does that sound?” She asks, doing her best to keep her voice collected.

Perfuma considers for a moment, brow furrowed, before finally nodding, once. “I’ll give you one year. After that, I want all of your people out of there.”

Scorpia sighs. That’s not exactly what she had wanted, but she’ll have to take it. “Deal.”

The Queen nods, apparently satisfied, then returns to the scroll. “There are some proposed trade deals, but those are beyond the scope of this meeting… The Horde agrees to give up all enforcement of sea trade routes… Ah, one last item.” She rolls the scroll up, then turns to meet Scorpia’s eyes. “You wish for us to give you Shadow Weaver.”

Catra starts, looking at Scorpia with wide eyes, but Scorpia doesn’t break the Queen’s gaze. “That’s right. I know you have her.”

“How do you know that?” Adora demands.

Scorpia shrugs. “Catra always told me you were her favorite. It just makes sense that she’d go to you.”

“What do you wish of her?” Scorpia looks back to the Queen.

“I want to make her pay for everything she did.” Technically, what she wants to do is to force her to apologize to Catra for everything she ever did to her, but she isn’t sure the Princesses would approve of the methods she has in mind.

“Shadow Weaver is currently in our custody, and I am not sure this is entirely my decision to make…”

Scorpia nods. “This isn’t really part of the whole treaty thing. This is just something I’m asking for. You can give her to us, or not. Either way I just ask that she be punished for her crimes.”

The Queen thinks a moment before nodding. “Very well. I will consider this. Is there anything else?”

Scorpia shakes her head. “That’s all of it.”

“Very well then. As for myself, I believe this is a reasonable agreement, but of course, I have no authority over the other members of the Alliance. What say you?” She looks back and forth at the various Princesses around her.

One by one, some more reluctantly than others, they all nod in agreement. Scorpia can’t help the grin that grows on her face and, despite herself, a small smile forms on the Queen’s face, as well.

“There we have it. We are in agreement. An official treaty will be drawn up at a later date, but for now, let this be the first steps in a new age of peace!”

 

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it.

Even that meeting went on for several more hours of heated discussion. Exact borders were drawn out, reparations for damages during the war were promised, deals were made to reintegrate former soldiers into peacetime society. And there were many more meetings after that.

Years go by, and tensions never really go away. Sometimes they flare to the surface, and for a brief moment, the world holds its breath, fearful of another war, but peace wins out in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: So I was going to write an epilogue for this, but I think instead I'm going to write a sequel fic, so watch out for that! Anyway, thank you so much for reading!


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